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THE EXPULSION, 



s 



THE 



SIGNS OF THE TIMES; 



SERIES OF DISCOURSES 



DELIVERED IN THE 



SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. 



BY 



CORNELIUS C. CUYLER, D. D. 



PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 




PHILADELPHIA 



WILLIAM S. MARTIEN 
1839, 



aS° 






The Library 

Of Congress 

Entered according- to the aet^^'ofTJongFess, in the year 1839, by 
WILLIAM S. MARTIEN, in the office of the Clerk of the District 
Court, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



THE 
FOLLOWING DISCOURSES, 

PREPARED FOR THEIR INSTRUCTION, 
ARE 

AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 

TO 

THE CONGREGATION 

OP TlIE 

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
PHILADELPHIA, 

BY 

THEIR AFFECTIONATE FRIEND AND PASTOR, 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 

The most of the following discourses were ori- 
ginally neither designed nor prepared with a 
view to their publication. The afternoon of 
the first Sabbath in every month is devoted by 
the author to the Catechetical instruction of 
the children and youth of his charge. This 
has given occasion to a public service on the 
evening of the same day. These services 
were generally attended by large and mixed 
audiences. It became a matter of considera- 
ble importance to supply such audiences with 
instruction which should, at the same time, 
command their attention, and prove profitable 
to them. A large proportion of them, con- 
sisted of young men, who had either just en- 
tered upon the active concerns of life, or who 
were preparing for them. Several courses of 

1 



^ PREF A CE, 

instruction were taken into consideration, and 
it was finally concluded that the aspects of Di- 
vine Providence were such as to afford many 
lessons which might be taught and enforced 
with profit. 

This conviction was confirmed by the con- 
sideration, that although the dispensations of 
Divine Providence are often deeply interesting 
and highly instructive, they are seldom taken 
up and considered in order — and thus the ad- 
vantages which might be derived from them 
are lost, because they have not been expounded 
and enforced. Even those which concern us 
as individuals, are soon forgotten, unless atten- 
tion is from time to time directed to them, or 
the general principles of the Divine administra- 
tion are so infixed in the mind as to identify 
the presence and government of God with 
every movement. 

It was also thought that as the latter days 
approach, the aspects of the Divine adminis- 
tration might be expected to become more in- 
teresting and important, especially towards a 
country whose whole history has been so 



PREFACE. 6 

strikingly marked in every stage of it, and 
whose institutions and character are calculated 
to exercise, nay, have already exercised, so im- 
portant an influence on the world. There was 
probably no mistake in attributing a special 
character to "the signs of the times," with 
respect to this land. And if this be so, they 
are certainly illustrative of our character and 
duty as a nation. Such a child of Providence 
should have its eyes directed to the Father's 
hand. We are bound to observe, study, and 
improve " the signs of the times.'' They are 
neither too dark to be observed, too abstruse 
to be studied, nor too unimportant to be im- 
proved. A way-faring man, though a fool, 
need not err. This impression has induced 
the choice of the general subject, and the par- 
ticular topics which have been discussed, illus- 
trated, and enforced, under it. 

These discourses were prepared and deliver- 
ed with a view to usefulness. They are pub- 
lished at the desire of many who heard them, 
and by the advice of a few friends, in whose 
judgment the author had great confidence. 



4 PREFACE. 

They are now submitted to the pubhc with 
great diffidence, and under a deep conviction 
that their usefulness is entirely dependent upon 
the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. 
That He may be present with every reader, is 
the sincere and fervent prayer of 

THE AUTHOR. 

Philadelphia, June, 1839. 



CONTENTS. 

Page 

Introduction, 7 

LECTURE L 
Missions, 13 

LECTURE IL 
Education, 37 

LECTURE in. 
Recklessness of Human Life, 63 

LECTURE IV. 
God's Frowns against Covetousness, . . . ' 87 

LECTURE V. 
Revivals of Religion, 109 

LECTURE VL 
Corruption of Doctrine, 137 

LECTURE VII. 
Effects of Corruption in Doctrine, 163 

LECTURE VIII. 
Spirit of Fanaticism, 190 

LECTURE IX. 

Slavery, 215 

1* 



6 CONTENTS. 

Page 

LECTURE X. 

Spirit of Lawlessness, 239 

LECTURE XL 
Dealings of Providence, 265 

LECTURE XII. 
Duty of the Ministry, 294 



INTRODUCTION. 

Having perused, in manuscript, a number of 
the "discourses'' which compose the present 
volume, and advised the author to pubhsh them, 
let me hope for the reader's indulgence, while I 
very briefly assign the reasons for the counsel 
which I gave. 

In the first place, the subject of these dis- 
courses is vastly momentous. The title of the 
publication itself, refers to an interrogatory of 
our Saviour, carrying with it a most severe 
censure of those who were criminally blind to 
the duty which his question indicated. In the 
preaching of the Gospel, the noticeable pecu- 
liarities and import of Divine Providence ought 
ever to claim the special attention of the faith- 
ful pastor. We learn from the revelation 
which God has given us, that it is his purpose 
and plan, to teach by his Providence as w^ell as 
by his Word. The two, indeed, are often the 
best and most striking proof and illustration of 
each other. Discourses, moreover, which refer 
to events actually passing, or that have recent- 
ly passed, under our own observation, are, if 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

well conducted, uncommonly interesting, and 
impart instruction and admonition, which come 
home, with peculiar force, to " men's business 
and bosoms." 

Again: It appeared to me, on the perusal 
of the discourses which my friend submitted to 
my inspection, that he had hstened to the voice 
of God's providence, and understood its true 
import, in many occurrences in which nothing 
of the kind strikes the ear of the multitude, 
and to which many, even of the pious, are too 
inattentive, or, from which they receive only 
some fugitive impressions. If we accredit the 
Gospel, we must believe, that a sparrow falleth 
not to the ground, nor a hair from our head, 
without the notice and ordering of our Hea- 
venly Father; and these truths are, we know, 
accompanied by the declaration, "Ye are of 
more value than many sparrows." Thus are 
we emphatically taught, that the hand of God 
has an immediate direction or control of all the 
events which affect, not only individuals, but 
communities of men. It follows, that nations 
:jfrise or fall, experience prosperity or adversity, 
witness propitious or adverse seasons, escape or 
suffer from, wasting disease, from earthquakes, 
J tornadoes, inundations, tempests, conflagrations, 
noxious insects or reptiles; are favoured or 
frowned on, in their agricultural, manufacture 



INTRODUCTION. 



ling, and commercial interests, and in the con- 
sequent abundance or scarcity of the means of 
isubsistence; are blest with peace or embroiled 
Jin war; see virtue and piety prevail, with their 
[countless attendant blessings, or are afflicted 
with the prevalence of vice, of infidelity, blas- 
phemy, neglect, and contempt of divine institu- 
tions, of avarice, intemperance, domestic broils, 
I homicides, murders, assassinations, and duels — 
all according to the permission, or ordaining 
will, of Him, " who doth according to his will 
in the army of heaven, and among the inhabi- 
/ tants of the earth; and none can stay his 
hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?" 
How immensely important is it? how exactly 
coincident with the design of God, in the vari- 
ous dispensations just hinted at, that their cha- 
j racter and language should be heedfully regard- 
led by the subjects of his moral government? 
I And who, it may be asked, are specially bound 
'to put a tongue into these dispensations? The 
ministers of religion, beyond a question, must 
I be the answer. Their imperative duty it mani- - 
I festly is, to call the attention of the people of 
their charge, and, so far as they can, of the 
public generally, to the improvement which the , 
God of Providence requires all to make, of the | 
I events w^hich he causes to pass before them. 
1 Believing that this had been done by the au- 



10 INTRODUCTION, 

thor of the sermons which fill this volume, I: 
advised to their pubhcation; not only that his, 
own people might have the advantage of re- 
veiwing, at their leisure, what they had heard , 
from the lips of their pastor, but, that others 
might be sharers in the benefit. 

Finally: It is believed, that the author of. 
these discourses has not only been fortunate in [ 
the selection of his subjects, but happy in the • 
^j manner in which he has discussed them. The * 
portion of narrative which he has naturally, ' 
and, indeed, necessarily introduced, is at once 
adapted to awaken and fix attention, and to 
form the basis of the doctrines, inferences, and ^ 
illustrations which follow; and, although a well ; 
instructed Christian, in reading as well as in . 
hearing pulpit addresses, will commonly look » 
for edification, more from the revival and re- . 
newed impression of known truth, than from : 
learning something which, to him, is entirely . 
novel; yet there may be, not only a real no- * 
velty in the manner in which familiar truth is 
t presented, but there are some truths and sub- 
j jects of a religious character, and of a practi- 
Jcal and profitable kind, w^hich lie so much out 
I of the tract of common thought and discus- . 
jsion, that, when skilfully handled, will suggest 
4 ideas strictly new^ to many who can by no ' 
means be justly considered as novices in Chris- 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

f tian attainment. To this class of compositions, 
I to a considerable extent, it appeared to me, the 
j discourses, now in the hands of the reader, 
'fairly belonged; and, as this was a chief rea- 
Ison for advising to their publication, so it is a 
I strong motive for wishing and hoping, that 
* they may have an extensive publication, and a 
I careful perusal. 

It must not be omitted, that if my friend 
had not earnestly requested me to give my 
opinion of this work, candidly and publicly, 
I should not have hazarded the charge of va- 
nity, to which I perceive I may expose myself, 
by making the foregoing statement. 

ASHBEL GREEN 
Philadelphia, May lO^A, 1839. 



LECTURE I. 

MISSIONS. 

MATTHEW XVI. I. 
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES ? 

The period of our Saviour's advent, and min- 
istry was eventful and portentous. The Roman 
empire, by the aggressive movement of ages, 
had spread itself out over most parts of the then 
known world. The policy and power of that 
wonderful people, had triumphed over almost all 
the nations of Europe, and subjected them to 
their control. Northern Africa acknowledged 
their authority ; and Western Asia, reduced to 
the form of provinces, lay submissive at their 
feet. Thus situated, the world was in a state 
of profound peace. But while the Roman em- 
pire was thus extended, and apparently at the 
zenith of power, the process of decay had com- 
menced at the heart. Pride, vain-glory, and 
luxury, the consequences of success in warhke 
enterprises, and increased wealth, had corrupt- 
ed the morals, and enervated the energies of 
that people, and were rapidly preparing the way 

2 



14 LECTURE I. 

for those revolutions and changes which after- 
wards took place in the state of that empire^ 
and the world. 

At the time of the Saviour's advent, the Jews 
were subject to the Roman yoke. Before this 
time pubhc attention had been generally excited 
by the ancient prophecies, and high expecta- 
tions were entertained, not only with respect to 
the fact of Messiah's appearance, but the effects 
which were to result from it both to the Jews, 
and the world at large. The coming events had 
cast their shadows before them. The Jews, how- 
ever, had fallen as far from their once high and 
palmy state, in morals and religion, as in na- 
tional strength and pohtical importance; and 
hence were not prepared to receive such a Sa- 
viour as God had promised, and Christ proved 
to be. This accounts for much of their con- 
duct while he ministered among them, and par- 
ticularly their treatment of him. They were 
looking for a splendid person, a conquering hero, 
a temporal prince, an extended empire to which 
all other nations were to be subjected ; and, of 
course, great personal and political considera- 
tion and influence, in which they expected large- 
ly to share — while, in fact, he came, meek, low- 
ly, humble, a man of sorrows, to die for sinners; 
to leave the world to set up a spiritual kingdom, 
to revolutionize the world by the sanctified use 



MISSIONS. 15 

of the word and grace of God. And the Jews, 
instead of being the partakers of his temporal 
glory, were to be the unwilhng witnesses of his 
Messiahship and truth, by their unbelief, the sub- 
version of their civil and religious polity, their 
dispersion among all nations, and a degradation 
and suffering which were to endure for many 
centuries ; and from which they would find no 
relief, till they should seek it penitently through 
the blood, the guilt of shedding which they wick- 
edly imprecated on themselves and their chil- 
dren. 

The signs which were foreshadowing these 
events, were already appearing in the state of 
the Roman empire, the condition and feelings of 
the Jewish people, and the general aspects of 
Divine Providence, which began to put on a 
lowering character; and they were portrayed 
as with a sun-beam, in the holy oracles which 
God had committed to them, to guide their faith 
and conduct. To these considerations, however, 
the Jews of that day were blind. They had no 
discernment of the things which belonged to 
their peace, and hence did not foresee the dan- 
ger which threatened them, nor hide themselves, 
till the storm fell upon their devoted heads. 

And yet they were keen enough of discern- 
ment in relation to other things : — -" Ye can dis- 
cern the face of the sky," says the Saviour, " but 



16 LECTURE I. 

ye cannot discern the signs of the times :'^- 
matter of infinitely more importance to them on 
every account. By this he designed to rebuke 
them for their inattention to a subject in which 
they had so deep an interest. Every age, my 
hearers, has its signs. As long as there are 
men on earth, and God governs them by his 
providence, these signs will exist. They are let 
down from heaven, by the hand of God to be 
seen of men, and studied by the light of his holy 
word, and improved to his glory, and our good. 
" Whoso is wise and will observe these things, 
even they shall understand the loving kindness 
of the Lord." Of these signs the present day 
is by no means destitute; and if they are not 
peculiar, (as it is confidently believed some of 
them are,) yet they are exhibited to be seen, 
studied, and improved by men, for their benefit. 
Under this impression, and with this view, the 
subject of our present meditation has been select- 
ed. Permit me to ask your close and prayerful 
attention to it. Let us advert 

I. To what 25, and should be esteemed to be, the 
glory of the present age, the great and success- 
ful efforts made to spread abroad among man- 
kind the Gospel of Christ and its blessed in- 
fluences. Before the Redeemer ascended to 
glory, he gave to his disciples this command- 
ment — ^" Preach the Gospel to every creature," 



MISSIONS. 17 

and encouraged them to hope for its accom- 
phshment by these three considerations; the 
promise of his presence; the declaration of his 
Almighty power; and the gift of his Spirit. 
Thus commanded and encouraged, they went 
forth to their work, undismayed, although all 
earth and hell were opposed to them. During 
their life time the Gospel had already been 
preached in every province of the wide spread 
Roman empire, and multitudes had every where 
submitted themselves to the Saviour's authority. 
And the work went steadily on, notwithstand- 
ing the opposition which was made to it, in- 
cluding many bitter and bloody persecutions, 
until, in the beginning of the fourth century, the 
religion of the cross ascended the throne of the 
Cesars, in the person of Constantino the Great. 
It is a question, whether pure and undefiled re- 
Hgion ever had a much wider extension than at 
that period, till after the Reformation in the six- 
teenth century; for what it gained in one quar- 
ter, it lost in another; and it gradually became 
almost universally corrupted. Nor did the ag- 
gressive influence of the Reformation on the ter- 
ritories of darkness and sin, last long. Its fer- 
vours were soon exhausted, and its influence be- 
came retrograde in Europe; and when it was 
carried abroad, by the discovery and settlement 
of this continent, and the discovery of a passage 



18 LECTURE I. 

to the East Indies by sea, it was too much en- 
cumbered by a spirit of worldly enterprise and 
gain, to exert a proper and permanent efficiency. 
At the commencement of the last century, Pro- 
testantism itself had lost much of its vitality, 
and degenerated into formality. Under such 
circumstances, missionary efforts were scarcely 
thought of. The Moravians, about that time, 
had just commenced their effi^rts. Three or 
four Germans, employed by a British society, 
were engaged in the East Indies; and the 
ElKots, Mathews, and, at a somewhat later pe- 
riod, Brainerd, had devoted themselves to the 
Indians of our own continent; but the cause 
became almost extinct at the premature death 
of the latter. 

I date the first symptom of reviving hfe, and 
change for the better, from a small association 
of praying young men, at the University of Ox- 
ford, in England, in the year 1729, of whom 
were the Wesleys and Whitefield. These were 
among the most early, honoured, and efficient 
instruments of a revival of religion in the Bri- 
tish Isles and this country, which, I have no 
doubt, was graciously sent of the Lord, to coun- 
teract the influence of that infidelity which swept 
like a torrent over Europe during the last cen- 
tury, and prepare the church of God to do her 
duty to the world. A series of well adapted 



MISSIONS. 19 

means^ such as the world never saw, and the 
church never wielded, and promissory of the 
happiest results, have been put in requisition. 

This age is distinguished by the establish- 
ment and successful operation of Bible, Mis- 
sionary, Tract, Education, and Temperance 
Societies, and Infant and Sunday schools, all of 
them having for their object the glory of God, 
and the welfare of man ; and each of them se- 
parately, and all of them collectively, bearing 
benignly upon these all important objects. 

The Bible, either in whole, or in part, has 
already been translated and printed in more 
than one hundred and fifty languages of our 
world; and many millions of copies have been 
distributed. In all these languages there is pre- 
paration made for a full supply as soon as the 
people shall be prepared to read them, and the 
church to furnish the necessary means. Has 
the like of this ever been witnessed in any pre- 
ceding age of the world. No, my hearers, it is 
one of the peculiarities of this age, one of the 
signs of the present time. The way is at least 
opening to give the word of God to all the 
dwellers on earth, s6 that they may read the 
wonderful works of God in their own living 
languages. 

This singular and cheering state of things is 
connected with, and has sprung from the ef- 



20 LECTURE I. 

forts which have been made to spread the Gos- 
pel by means of Missions. Wherever men 
have gone to preach the Gospel, they have, as 
soon as practicable, commenced the transla- 
tion of the sacred Scriptures, and the means 
to print them have to some extent been sup- 
phed by Bible Societies. Since the days of 
the Apostles, the work of missions has never 
engaged so much of the attention, excited so 
highly the interest, and called forth so gene- 
rally and successfully the exertions of the 
Christian church as during the last half century. 
There is scarcely a denomination that has not 
felt the impulse. The Moravians, those pio- 
neers in the sacred cause, have gone on in 
" the even tenor of their way,'' increasing their 
operations with their strength. The London 
Missionary Society, composed of members of 
most of the evangelical denominations in Great 
Britain, was instituted near the close of the 
last century, and has been engaged in the work 
with ardour and success. They were very soon 
followed (probably preceded) by the Baptists of 
England, of whom it is praise enough to say, 
that they sent out as their first missionaries, Ca- 
rey, Ward, and Marshman, the fathers of Se- 
rampore, and the indefatigable translators of the 
Scriptures into the languages of India. After 
these came the Church Missionary Society, the 



MISSIONS. 21 

Methodist Missionary Society, the Scottish Mis- 
sionary Society, the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions, together with 
Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Western^ For- 
eign, and Reformed Dutch Boards or Societies, 
in our own country; and a number of similar 
institutions on the continent of Europe. 

These various institutions have succeeded in 
planting Christian Missions at various points of 
the British East Indian possessions, China, Bur- 
mah. New Holland, and New Zealand, Siam, 
the Dutch possessions, the Society and Sand- 
wich Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, Sierra 
Leone, Liberia, Abyssinia, The Holy Land, 
Constantinople, Broosa, Erzeroom, Persia, Ar- 
menia, Smyrna, various points in Greece, and 
among very many of the native tribes of our 
own country. To which may be added the va- 
rious operations of Domestic Societies to ex- 
tend and strengthen the cause of Christ in 
Christian lands. To these operations God has 
added his blessing, so that many minds have 
been enhghtened with the knowledge of the 
truth, and many hearts sanctified and devoted 
to God. And not only so, but this cause is 
every year acquiring new interest in the hearts 
of God's people, and some hundreds of new 

* Now adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church. 



22 LECTURE I. 

labourers are going into the vineyard. The 
cause has commanded the services of some of 
the choicest spirits, both as to head and heart, 
which have ever devoted themselves to Christ, 
To prove this, I need only mention the names 
of Buchanan, Carey, Martyn, Morrison, Milne, 
Thomason, and our own Hall, Mills, Burgess, 
and Fisk, with a host of other w^orthies, some 
of whom have gone to rest, and many of whom 
are now " bearing the heat and burden of the 
day." In addition to this, many hundreds of 
young men, both in this country and Europe, 
have sacredly devoted themselves to the bless- 
ed work, and are in various stages of progress, 
preparing to enter upon their labours, and eve- 
ry year is adding to their number by scores, 
and by hundreds. And, in the meantime, the 
Church in every part of the world is waking up, 
and taking new interest in the subject of Mis- 
sions, by increasing contributions, efforts, and 
prayers. As soon as labourers are found, they 
are sent into the vineyard. And w^hile the 
church and its members at home are taking 
new interest in the subject, the new converts 
from heathenism are anxious to share as well 
in the labours as in the honours of the sacred 
cause. " The sacramental host" is marshalling 
its forces all around the territories of sin and 
darkness, preparing to make a grand aggres- 



MISSIONS. 23 

siye movement, in the confident hope of a 
glorious victory. And if they can only keep 
sight of the captain of their salvation, follow 
closely in his footsteps, use no armour but his, 
receive the word of command from his lips, and 
rely upon his power and skill, there is no 
knowing what wonders they will perform, nor 
how soon a conquered world will acknowledge 
his gracious authority. 

Tracts have been brought to aid the cause 
of Bibles and Missions with happy success. 
They have been of incalculable service in 
Christian as well as in heathen lands. In 
Christian lands there are multitudes who will 
not touch a Bible, and who studiously avoid 
the preaching of the Gospel, to whom these 
little, humble, unobtrusive preachers of right- 
eousness, find their way, bearing along with 
them enough of divine truth to save the soul, 
and doing their work before men are aware of 
their heavenly errand. And in heathen lands 
they can be put into requisition long before the 
Bible can be translated, printed, and circulated, 
or the Missionary be prepared to preach the 
gospel to edification. 

The use of this little weapon was learn- 
edfrom the infidels of the last century. Vol- 
taire and his coadjutors knew that they could 
not reach the mass of the people with their 



24 LECTUREK 

elaborate treatises, and therefore scattered the 
tares by handfuls all over the land, by this 
means ; and the unblest harvest has been reaped 
in the general demoralization of the people, the 
French revolution with its horrors and woes, 
and the wars and miseries which grew out of it. 
A useful lesson was thus learned by the follow- 
ers of Christ, upon which they have since im- 
proved with great skill and success, both in 
Christian and heathen lands. Multitudes of 
them have been written, printed, and circulated, 
and many souls have been indebted to them for 
their whole stock of Christian knowledge, and 
not a few for the salvation of their souls. 
Their preparation has put into requisition some 
of the best heads and hearts in the church of 
Christ; and the consequence has been, that 
they have produced tracts which have received 
the approbation of the learned and the wise, 
and the reading of them has been blessed to 
the edification of Christians, the conviction of 
gainsayers, and the saving illumination of the 
ignorant. 

They are happily calculated to be influen- 
tially auxiliary to the spread and success of the 
Gospel of Christ. They are more easily pre- 
pared and readily circulated than the sacred 
Scriptures. They can be sent where the 
preacher cannot go, and where we can find, 



MISSIONS. 25 

and prepare, and send forth one preacher of 
righteousness, milHons of these Httle mutes may 
be sent, not only to prepare the way of the 
Lord, but to do the work of Evangehsts. All 
are not qualified to preach the Gospel. All are 
not qualified to translate the Bible. But all 
the Lord's people may be tract (hstributers, and 
thus fulfil Moses' wish, " Would to God that 
all the Lord's people w^ere prophets !" No de- 
partment of Christian benevolence appears more 
happily calculated to further the progress of 
the kingdom of Christ. The widow^s mite is 
made happily and visibly instrumeatal to save 
souls. The tract cause belongs to this age. 
It is one of the signs of our times. May it 
abundantly flourish, and increase with the in- 
crease of God. 

Another institution which belongs to this 
age, and stands forth as a sign of the present 
time, is the cause of education as connected 
with the ministry of reconciliation. I am not 
well informed as to the facts, when education 
societies originated, or whether they took their 
rise on this, or the other side of the Atlantic. 
Nor is it material to determine these points. 
It is enough for my present purpose to remark, 
that they are of recent origin, and belong sub- 
stantially to the present age. I am not un- 
aware that most of the literary institutions on 

3 



26 LECTURE I . 

earth have sprung from religion, and have been 
designed to furnish the Church of God with a 
competent ministry. And I am also aware 
that many young men have, long ago, been 
gratuitously educated for this purpose. But 
the movement of the Church toward evan- 
gelizing the world, and the deficiency of instru- 
ments, which investigations on the subject have 
brought to light, have proved the necessity of 
new efforts to furnish men well qualified to ac- 
complish the great object. It was soon found 
that there were not enough among the sons of 
those who had the ability to educate their own 
children, to supply the wants of the Church and 
the world. Either such were not converted to 
God, and hence not morally quahfied for such 
a work; or, they could not be brought to en- 
gage in it. And hence the necessity of seek- 
ing those who had a mind for the work, but 
had not the means to educate themselves. 
There may be divine sovereignty in this. " The 
poor have the Gospel preached unto them." 
" Not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
mighty, not many noble are called." But there 
certainly is divine wisdom in it. " The heat and 
burden of the day," require not a race of men 
who have been delicately brought up, or who 
have fared sumptuously — but who know what 
it is to want and labour. If the rich will not 



MISSIONS. 27 

give their sons to Christ for this work, they 
ought not to think it hard to be called upon to 
assist in training substitutes for supplying their 
lack of service in this holy warfare. The 
work must be done. 

But whatever the cause, the systematic 
training of men for this service, by the associat- 
ed efforts of many, is peculiar to this age. And 
no where has the subject excited as much in- 
terest, or occasioned as much exertion, as in 
our country. Almost every denomination of 
Christians has felt the necessity of engaging in 
the work. While they have " prayed the Lord 
of the harvest to send labourers into the har- 
vest," they have endeavoured to show their 
faith by their works. No small part of this 
field has been cultivated by Presbyterian and 
Congregational hands. For a length of time 
the American Education Society, principally 
composed of Congregationalists, with a flourish- 
ing auxiliary in the Presbyterian Church, took 
the lead in this important work, until the Pres- 
byterian Church, for the safety and purity of 
her own institutions, found it necessary to pro- 
secute the work more extensively and vigorous- 
ly in her distinctive character. She found 
from experience, that w^hosoever should edu- 
cate her ministry, and direct her missionary 
operations, must, as a matter of course, control 



28 LECTUREI. 

her institutions. Being of age, she felt as if 
she could, and might, under God, assume the 
direction of her own affairs, by the appoint- 
ment of a Board of Education, although some 
of her own children think she has not yet come 
to the years of discretion, and had better re- 
main under " tutors and governors." 

These two denominations have generally, for 
a few years past, kept by this means about 
fifteen hundred young men in a course of train- 
ing for the Gospel ministry. How many have 
been patronized by other denominations, I 
know not, but probably as many as they 
thought necessary for their purposes, or felt 
able to assist. The number has probably not 
been small. Thus it will be found that a large, 
and unprecedented number have, within a few 
years, by the contributions and prayers of the 
Church, been consecrated to this holy and im- 
portant cause — enough to mark this as a pecu- 
Uarity of the age in which we live, and a pro- 
minent sign of the times, promising the most 
important results. Nay — it has already had 
important results, for many of the pastors of 
the churches, and some of the noblest men in 
the Missionary field, have thus been trained 
for their work — men, who would have been 
left in obscurity, and comparative uselessness, 
but for such means of education. The prose- 



MISSIONS. 29 

cution of this work promises to bless the world 
for a long time to come. 

The Temperance cause is another of the signs 
of the times^ which bears with tremendous 
weight upon the interests of souls, and the 
cause of God on earth. The evil of intemper- 
ance had become very extensive and destructive, 
and no where more so than in those countries 
which had made the greatest progress in civi- 
lization, and the cultivation of the arts and 
sciences, not even excepting those in which 
the Gospel was enjoyed in the greatest purity, 
and had exercised the happiest influence. Such 
has been the demand for alcoholic drinks, that 
not only had the fruit of the vine, and the 
apple been perverted, but the very staff" of life, 
our choicest bread stuflfs, were transmuted into 
liquid poison, and made the destroyers of that 
life, which God made them to sustain and nour- 
ish. This tide of destruction has rolled not 
only over this land, but over the greater part 
of Europe, and has not improbably been an 
engine of greater destruction to happiness and 
life than the wars which have arisen out of 
the French revolution ; and men have evinced 
to it as much attachment as the soldiers of 
Bonaparte did to the glory of their Emperor, 
or the plunder of the nations. In our own 
country, this demon is, with good reason, sup- 



30 LECT URE 1. 

posed to have destroyed more than thirty 
thousand Uves annually, at an expense of a 
hundred millions of dollars, besides the misery 
it has occasioned to wives and widows, and 
children, and orphans, and the ruin irretriev- 
able and eternal, which it has brought upon 
souls; for nothing good or holy can abide 
with intemperance. 

Temperance societies have been designed to 
arrest the progress of this evil, and, if possible, 
eradicate it ; and their success has been mar- 
vellous and happy. The amount of good which 
has been accomplished, has been incalculable ; 
but much, very much remains to be done; and 
if the cause shall be prosecuted with the diU- 
gence which its high importance demands, and 
the law of kindness and love shall dwell upon 
the lips of its advocates, and it shall not be 
made a substitute for religion, pure and unde- 
filed before God and the Father, and be com- 
mitted to the blessing of the " Father of Lights,'' 
who alone is able to crown it with victory, it 
will go on, and prosper, and be one of the chief 
glories of this age, and one of the greatest bless- 
ings of the following. Christians, however, must 
take a much deeper interest in it than they have 
as yet done, or God will rebuke them by crown- 
ing the world with the honour of achieving this 
blessed reformation. The work will be done. 



MISSIONS. 31 

It is one of the signs of the times, which ought 
to be studied with close and interested attention. 
Its bearing on the cause of Christ is direct and 
important. 

Another sign of the times is, the attention 
which has been paid to the education of the 
rising generation, particularly by means of In- 
fant and Sabbath schools. The former is a 
proof of the well founded sentiment, that a child 
is susceptible of what is properly denominated, 
education, at a much earlier period than was 
formerly imagined; and the latter, that the 
young mind may not only receive intellectual 
culture at a very early period, but become ac- 
quainted with the truths of religion, and be sav- 
ingly influenced by them. It is no uncommon 
thing for children of seven or eight years of age 
to have received more mental cultivation than 
we formerly looked for at twelve or thirteen. 
What is now common^ w^as once thought a pro- 
digy in the development of mind. The history 
of our Sunday schools furnishes us with multi- 
tudes of well authenticated instances of saving 
conversion, at ages which would formerly have 
been deemed miraculous. Would time permit, 
I could detail to you many well attested facts 
on the subject, some of which have fallen under 
my own observation. I will, however, only re- 
mark, that I have been well acquainted with at 



32 LECTUREI. 

least one instance of conversion between five 
and six years of age, and that I have knoAvn a 
child of nine years of age, better acquainted with 
the doctrines of rehgion, and the system of sal- 
vation by Jesus Christ, than two-thirds of the 
members of most of our churches. 

Now, w^hen it is remembered, how early edu- 
cation is commenced — what multitudes are en- 
joying the benefit of Sabbath schools, and how 
the system is disseminating itself with the Gos- 
pel in every part of the w^orld; and connect it 
with the promises of God, and the othel- signs 
of these latter days, may it not be noted as 
one of the striking characteristics of the age 
in which we live ? One of the beacon lights 
which God is hanging out from heaven to show 
us where we are, and teach us what he expects 
us to do to promote his cause. Perhaps there 
is nothing of higher promise connected with 
the use of means, and allied to the promise, 
" They shall be all taught of God," than the 
instruction provided for the young in the in- 
stitutions of which I am speaking. What a 
day will that be for our world when all the 
children and youth on earth shall be duly in- 
structed in the knowledge of God and salva- 
tion, and that instruction shall be sanctified, as 
we hope it will be, to all who receive it. 



MISSIONS. 33 

Suffer me, before I dismiss the branch of the 
subject which has engaged our attention this 
evening, to make a remark or two suggested 
by it, I say, " Branch of the subject," for 
there remain a number of interesting and im- 
portant particulars to which, if the Lord spare 
us, your attention will be directed in future 
months. 

In the first place, I remark, that there are 
probably embodied in the particulars which 
have been mentioned, most of the instrumen- 
talities which God will employ, through the 
sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, to 
subdue the world to the obedience of faith; and 
that the means now exist in the Church to carry 
this great purpose of the divine love and mercy 
into ample effect. There are men enough now 
in the Church to preach the Gospel to every 
creature. There are a sufficiency of talents 
and wealth in the Church to prepare the Scrip- 
tures, and put them into the hands of every 
family on earth, in their own living language, 
in the course of a few years. Where would 
be the difficulty of flooding the earth with 
evangelical tracts? And wherever Mission- 
aries have carried the Gospel, and planted the 
Church, they have hitherto been able to estab- 
lish the Sabbath school. The abandonment of 
unnecessary and destructive drinks alone would 



34 LECTURE I. 

more than furnish the necessary funds. What 
then is necessary to accompHsh the great and 
glorious object? Piety — Rehgion enough to 
consecrate ourselves and all that we have and 
are, to Him " who spared not his own Son, but 
delivered him up for us all," and has promised, 
" freely to give us all things with him." Thus 
God is showing us how this great work may 
be accomplished. 

2. Why is he hanging out this great sign of 
the Son of Man before our eyes? That we 
may observe and study its meaning, and learn 
our duty, while the Son of God exhibits him- 
self to our view, as ready to go before us in the 
work, and render our feeble efforts efficacious 
by the power of his Spirit and grace. To tell 
us that the time has come, and rebuke our unbe- 
lief and delay. Would he thus raise the cloud 
from off the tabernacle of the congregation, if he 
had not come to lead us onward to Canaan? We 
can scarcely open the mouth in prayer, before 
he answers us. Wheresoever we sow the seed 
he causes it to spring up and bear fruit. If 
we are still afraid to go on, and possess the 
land, he will turn us back to wander in the 
wilderness, and leave our bones to perish there ; 
and when we, an unbelieving generation, are 
dead, our children shall go in, and possess the 
land. He thus rebukes our unbelief of the pro- 



MISSIONS* 35 

mises which relate to the kingdom of Christ, 
and the latter day glory, our bhndness to those 
signs of promise which are exhibited before our 
eyes, and our tardiness of obedience to his 
word, and in following the leadings of his pro- 
vidence, which are all encouraging us to hope 
for the speedy subjection of the world to the 
cross of Christ, if his people have faith and 
courage enough to undertake the work. 

3. By this great sign, in some one of its as- 
pects, every follower of Christ, however hum- 
ble, may find some way in which he may be 
usefully employed for the promotion of the 
glory of God, and the welfare of our race. 
The field of operation is so wide that none 
need be idle. In some one of its allotments 
he may find a spot which he may advantage- 
ously cultivate, if only he has a mind for the 
work. " The field is the world" — and if we 
have but one talent, we may find a spot where 
it may be usefully bestowed. Tell me, is there 
nothing which you can do for the promotion of 
the cause of Missions, or Bibles, or Tracts, or 
Sunday schools, or Education, or Temperance? 
If in all this variety of means for promoting 
the cause of God and souls, you can do no- 
thing, you must be poor indeed in intellect, and 
property, and poorer still in piety and heart. 



36 LECTUREl . M I S S I O N S . 

We can all do somethings and God is loudly 
calling us to the work both by his Word and 
providence. " Can ye not discern the signs of 
the times?" 



LECTURE II. 

EDUCATION. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 

CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES ? 

In opening this subject, on a former occasion, 
it was remarked, that every age had some 
signs, or aspects which were pecuHar to it- 
self; and these might be considered as en- 
signs, hung out by God to be observed and 
studied by men, for their edification. Such 
w^as the case when the Saviour ministered on 
earth. The hues of divine providence were strik- 
ingly drawn, and highly significant, but they 
seem not to have been observed by the Jewish 
people, and Christ rebuked them for their bhnd- 
ness and inattention in our text. They were 
more inexcusable, because these signs were the 
fulfilment of their own Scriptures. 

It was also remarked that the present day 
had its signs, and that God designed to in- 
struct this generation by them. It was also 
intimated that these signs were manifold and 
instructive, and that it was my design, in the 
selection of this subject, to call your attention 
to them from time to time. A single one, 
which was stated in these words, " The great 

4 



38 LECTURE II. 

and successful efforts made to spread abroad 
among mankind the Gospel of Christ and its 
blessed influences," was at that time consider- 
ed. Your attention was particularly directed 
to the establishment and operation of Bible, 
Missionary, Tract, Education, and Temperance 
Societies, and Infant and Sabbath schools, as 
bearing upon this one great object, happily cal- 
culated to facilitate its accomplishment, and 
furnishing means of usefulness to all God's 
people. 

II. I now proceed to direct your attention to 
the subject of Education. A distinguished Bri- 
tish statesman, after the second abdication 
of Napoleon, and his seclusion in the island 
of St. Helena, when Europe was enjoying a 
profound peace, and a deep anxiety pervaded 
the minds of all its rulers to maintain and 
confirm it, and when most men supposed that 
it would be permanent, remarked either doubt- 
ingly or prophetically in the British Parlia- 
ment, " The schoolmaster is abroad in the 
land,'' anticipating another struggle, waged 
upon other principles, more extensive, fierce, 
and decisive, than that which had been brought 
to its issue at Waterloo. 

But however this may be, " The schoolmas- 
ter is abroad in the earth." In few countries, 
if any on earth, has education been as widely 
diffused, as in our own. New England has 



EDUCATION. 39 

ong been proverbial for the number and ex- 
cellency of its schools. Few, or none of its 
children need be destitute of a common English 
education. New York has followed close in 
its wake, if still behind. Pennsylvania has 
waked up to this important subject, and New 
Jersey is treading on its heels. Ohio is scarce- 
ly second to any out of New England. Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee are ahve to the subject; 
and in most of the more recent States, reserva- 
tions of land furnish a foundation for the estab- 
lishment of a common school system. And 
this system is beheved to be so homogeneous 
to our political institutions, and so necessary 
to their development and permanency, that it 
will establish itself in our Southern States, not- 
withstanding all the difficulties connected with 
the case. It is not improbable that in the 
course of a few years, such a system will have 
a legal establishment, and successful operation, 
in every State in the union, a consummation 
ardently desired, and anxiously sought by eve- 
ry patriot and Christian. 

But the interest excited by the subject has 
by no means been confined to this country. 
Education is as widely spread in despotic 
Prussia, as in this land of liberty, and per- 
haps not less so in Scotland. In England and 
France it is extending itself. And there are 



40 LECTURE II. 

few countries of Europe where it is not extend- 
ing itself with more or less rapidity. So wher- 
- ever the Christian religion is spreading by 
means of missionary operations, does the mis- 
sionary establish schools, and the natives, who 
are uninfluenced by religious considerations, 
are to some extent following the example. 
The attention of men has been extensively 
awakened to the importance of the subject, 
and is acting under an impulse which will 
eventually, and probably at no very remote 
day, pervade every community on earth. And 
the facility for carrying on the work is very 
greatly increased in every thickly populated 
country, by the comparatively recent invention 
of the Lancasterian or monitorial mode of in- 
struction, by which a few can now perform the 
work which formerly required the labour of 
many. 

I am not in possession of a sufficiency of 
statistics on the subject to give you a correct 
or adequate idea of its progress, and this pro- 
bably would not be the place to do it. We do, 
however, know that it is engaging the attention 
of men to a much wider extent than it ever 
did, and from its very nature, must spread, per- 
haps till it shall pervade every community on 
earth. That the subject is important is univer- 
sally admitted, but to what extent, and in what 



EDUC A T ION. 41 

manner, it is to afTect the minds, or hearts, or 
affairs of men, who can tell ? That the univer- 
sal diffusion of education among all the dwell- 
ers on earth will produce vast changes in our 
world is justly anticipated by all w^ho have 
any tolerable acquaintance with the nature of 
man, and the history of our world. The 
maxim that " Intelligence is the life of liberty," 
and the fact that a portion of the inhabitants 
of our country are studiously excluded from all 
intellectual cultivation, and to a lamentable ex- 
tent, moral also, sufficiently evinces the im- 
portance which is attached to the subject in 
this land. 

That the effects of education will partake 
quite as much of its nature and properties, as of 
its amount, is susceptible of a moral demonstra- 
tion by an induction of facts. It is, for instance, 
true, that the arts which embellish life, and the 
literature and science, which expand, strengthen, 
and adorn the mind of man, were never more 
extensively or successfully taught in Greece, 
than in the age which immediately preceded 
the overthrow of her republican institutions, 
the extinction of her liberties, and the com- 
mencement of a downward career, from which, 
after the revolution of, twenty centuries, she 
has scarcely begun to recover. When were 
the arts and sciences in the zenith of their 

4* 



42 LECTURE II. 

glory at Rome ? In the death struggle of the 
republic, and the commencement of her impe- 
rial career. The Augustan age is proverbial. 
Knowledge had never been more successfully 
cultivated or widely diffused in France, than 
when her population, Uke a horde of barba- 
rians, immersed all her own institutions in 
blood, and rolled, like a wave of destruction, 
over Europe. Facts of this description, if not 
quite so striking, might still be multiplied. 
And it would be highly instructive and useful 
to study them with close attention. They 
might furnish us with many a lesson of prac- 
tical wisdom which it would be worth our 
while to learn. The universal cultivation of 
the human mind might raise a race of giants on 
our earth. But it is to be feared that some of 
them might be blind, and use their great 
strength in destroying their fellows; and the 
residue combine their energies in a vain at- 
tempt to scale the heavens and dethrone God. 

This stone, and it is neither of diminitive 
magnitude, nor of small weight, has been set in 
motion, not only in this land, but in many 
others, under circumstances, strongly indica- 
tive of rapid movement, and a long extended 
course. I take it for granted that education 
will progress in our country. Such is our 
state, and such the feelings of the American 



EDUCATION. 43 

people on the subject, that the schoolmaster 
will find his way into every part of our widely 
extended country, and fiilfil his office wherever 
he shall go, even when our population shall be 
four times doubled. And I doubt not some- 
things like this will take place in other parts of 
the world, if not throughout the whole of it. 
And I so judge from the thirst of mankind for 
knowledge, the increased, increasing, and easy 
intercourse, for commercial or religious pur- 
poses, and the anxious desire of some to com- 
municate the knowledge which they possess, to 
others. This appears to me to be one of the 
clearest signs of the times in which we live. 
May we not almost call it an article of Ame- 
rican faith ? We are fond of anticipating the 
day as not very distant, when all the nations 
of the earth shall enjoy civil and religious liber- 
ty, and their institutions be formed after the 
model of our own ? And who that dreams of 
such a consummation, but connects it in his 
mind with the cultivation of the intellect by 
education, and the communication of the ne- 
cessary knowledge on all the subjects connect- 
ed with it ? 

That the diffiision of education is to make 
wonderful and important changes in our world, 
no one, who has any knowledge on the sub- 
ject, can, even for a moment, doubt. But who 



44 LECTUREII. 

can tell what their nature and extent will be ? 
Only He who knows the end from the begin- 
ning. That it w^ill very deeply affect both the 
minds and hearts of men, the state of families, 
the ordinary intercourse of life, the intercourse 
between nations, the habits of life, the frame- 
work of society, and public institutions, both 
civil and religious, admits of no dispute. The 
' changes will be deep and radical, but their 
nature and properties, will, under God, depend 
upon the nature and qualities of the education 
which shall be communicated. Men do not 
gather grapes from thorns^ nor figs from thistles. 
Mere intellectual culture never did make men 
wise or good — never did fit them to fill up the 
various relations which they sustain to God 
and each other in a manner calculated to pro- 
mote the best interests of all concerned. Satan 
has a gigantic intellect. His angels are his 
compeers. They have been increasing in in- 
telligence from their creation. The most high- 
ly educated among the sons of men on earth, 
would not, probably, in this respect, compare 
wdth the meanest imp of darkness who has 
been blighted and scathed by the wrath of God. 
But there is neither society, nor government, 
nor bhss in hell. The fathers of the French re- 
volution comprised the very elite of the eigh- 
teenth century for mind, for cultivation, and in- 



EDUCATION. 45 

telligence. Every known art and science was 
cultivated by them to the utmost extent, and 
they laboured industriously to infuse their own 
intelligence into the pubHc mind of France. 
And what was the result ? A Babel — a gen- 
eral overthrow — confusion — blood — misery. — 
Beautiful France made into a slaughter-house — 
changed into a Golgotha. The politest na- 
tion on earth became the murderers of their 
race. Every nation around them was robbed 
of the fruits of the arts, to prove that the 
French were the best educated and most polish- 
ed people on earth. 

Take another example. The people of Hin- 
dostan are among the most ignorant, supersti- 
tious, degraded, and immoral people on earth. 
They are, however, said to possess fine capa- 
cities for improvement. They are now, as you 
know, and for some time have been, subjected to 
the authority and control of the British govern- 
ment. Influenced either by a desire to do 
good to this people, or finding it necessary to 
educate some of them, that they might employ 
them advantageously in their aflfairs, they es- 
tabUshed a Hindoo College in the vicinity of 
Calcutta. At this institution a number of young 
men, probably of respectable connexions and 
talents have been educated. They have been 
trained in the knowledge of the literature and 



46 



LECTURE II, 



sciences of Europe, in addition to the languages 
of India. The consequence has been, great 
intellectual improvement, together with great 
contempt for, and abandonment of, the super- 
stitious notions and practices of their own 
country. It should here be remarked, that all 
religious instruction, particularly all connected 
with the Christian religion, was, for fear of 
shocking the minds of the pupils and their con- 
nexions, and prevent them from embracing the 
advantages of the institution, carefully excluded 
from its walls. And what has been the con- 
sequence ? The rearing of a race of intellec- 
tual Atheists. The lights of literature and 
science dissipated their superstition. It expos- 
ed the follies and absurdities which they had 
been taught in childhood and early youth, with- 
out offering them any thing better in its stead, 
and left them to verify Paul's declaration, 
" The world by wisdom knew not God." Suf- 
fer me to illustrate my position by a few ex- 
tracts from a speech delivered by Dr. Duff, a 
Scottish Missionary from India, in the General 
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in 1835. 
If you can lay your hands on the whole speech, 
its perusal will abundantly repay you. " Now, 
(says he) let us advert to some of the modes 
of overcoming difficulties like those now stated. 
I have already shown that the communication 



EDUCATION. 47 

of useful knowledge will demolish the ancient 
learning and rehgion of Hindostan. On this 
subject a grand experiment has been made at 
the expense of the British government in the 
metropolis of India. About eighteen years 
ago there was founded, in Calcutta, a college 
for educating Hindoo youths, in the literature 
and science of Europe, apart from religion. 
The seminary has been attended chiefly by 
persons of rank, wealth, and influence in so- 
ciety. Here then was a favourable opportu- 
nity of ascertaining the power of European 
knowledge, when brought ^in contact with the 
system of Hindooism. The result was pre- 
cisely such as any one duly acquainted with 
the subject would confidently anticipate. For 
the last ten years, class after class has issued 
forth from this institution, who, by the course 
of enlightened study pursued, were made alive 
to the gross absurdities of their own systems. 
These, therefore, they boldly denounced as 
masses of imposture and debasing error, and 
the Brahmans as deceivers of the people, 
though many of themselves belong to that ex- 
alted and sacred class. But no morals or reli- 
gion having been taught in the institution, the 
young men were in a state of mind utterly 
blank as regards moral and rehgious truth, or 
moral and religious obligation. They were infi- 



48 LECTURE II. 

dels or sceptics of the most perfect kind, believing 
in nothing, believing not even in the existence of 
a Deity, and glorying in their unbelief. Still, their 
infidelity was of a negative, rather than a posi- 
tive kind. It was not the hardened infidelity 
of those who have apostatized from the true re- 
ligion, but the looser infidelity of minds that 
had become emptied of a false one. Truth was 
with them, not a thing positively rejected, but 
a thing undiscovered, unknown, and therefore 
not believed. To this class of persons much 
attention was directed some years ago, and I 
refer to their case as illustrative of one of the 
modes of accomplishing our great end. Of the 
existence of this class I knew nothing, because 
I had heard nothing, when I first reached my 
destination. With them and their condition I 
got acquainted by degrees, visiting the college 
and conversing with them — meeting with them 
in government offices and agency houses, as 
clerks and copyists — and attending various as- 
sociations which they had formed for debating 
questions of a literary or political character. 
In this way I gradually became familiar with 
their peculiar state of mind — their habitude of 
thought — their modes of reasoning — their pre- 
vailing opinions, with the staple of their know- 
ledge — the subjects that were found most in- 
teresting, and the kinds of argument and evi- 



EDUCATION. 49 

dence that proved to them most satisfactory. 
All subjects seemed to be more or less tolerat- 
ed but religion. Against religion in every form 
they raged and raved. They scrupled not to 
scoff at Christianity, they scrupled not to dis- 
avow their disbelief in the very being of a God — 
thus realizing the condition of men, described 
by an ancient author, who " Fled from super- 
stition, leapt over religion, and sunk into athe- 
ism." 

Such is the testimony of a competent and 
highly intelligent witness, who had the best op- 
portunities for judging of what mere intellec- 
tual cultivation will do towards fitting us for 
usefulness on earth, and glory in heaven. Let 
it not be said that these were mere stupid ig- 
norant Hindoos. Nothing can be wider of the 
truth than such an opinion. Thus, our author, 
with the best opportunities of forming a just 
estimate, describes them. " Having in my for- 
mer intercourse found that, from the metaphy- 
sical cast of mind among the higher orders of 
Hindoos, these young men had studied our 
writers on mental philosophy with peculiar de- 
light, that several of them had mastered the 
works of Reid, and Stewart, and Brown, and 
Locke, in such a way as I do not remember 
the majority of students attending moral phi- 
losophy classes in our universities to have for- 

5 



50 LECTUREII. 

merly mastered them, I had recourse, as a last 
resort, to a mixed mode of representing what 
has been termed the a priori^ or a metaphysi- 
cal argument for the being of an intelligent First 
Cause. The young men, for the most part, de- 
clared, " We now believe there is a great First 
Cause, the intelligent Author of all things." 
Such were these men, and such the effect of 
mere education, or intellectual culture, upon 
them. 

I am strongly tempted to make you ac- 
quainted with the mode and results of the la- 
bours of this highly gifted servant of Christ 
with these young intellectual atheists of India, 
but time and the particular object I have in 
view this evening, forbid it. Enough, how- 
ever, has appeared from well authenticated 
facts, to prove that the mere cultivation of in- 
tellect, or what is understood by mere educa- 
tion, is very far from fitting man even for the 
filling up in the best manner his earthly rela- 
tions, much more those higher relations which 
bind him morally to his fellows, and his God. 
It is in danger of blotting out the hopes of his 
immortality, the higher and true style of his 
nature, and reducing him to the ultimate level 
of the brutes which perish. 

I may here be asked, are you the advocate 
of ignorance ? Would you deprive the rising. 



EDUCATION. 51 

and following generations of mental culture? 
Would you close up our schools, academies, 
and colleges? Would you take from the 
schoolmaster his vocation? Not at all — I 
would increase their number — I would elevate 
the character of intellectual cultivation — I 
would, however, make this sign of our times a 
bow of promise in our heavens, and not a bale- 
ful meteor, portending ruin and death. I 
would not entrust the fortunes of our country, 
and of our race, to the mere schoolmaster — the 
man of mere figures and letters. It is all idle 
and vain, and worse than either, to attempt to 
train the immortal mind as if it were a mere 
intellectual spark to be blown into a flame, 
which will be for ever extinguished by the cold 
damps of death. 

Am I again asked. Are not the institutions 
of this land the fruit of mental culture ? Were 
not the fathers of our country men of educa- 
tion and intelligence ? Is not intelligence the 
life of liberty ? Is there a hope that the other 
nations of the earth will ever be thus blessed, 
unless the mass of the people are educated? 
I admit all you can say in favour of education. 
I bless God that the schoolmaster is abroad. 
May his company become a regiment, a brig- 
ade, a well organized and numerous army. 

Still, let it be remembered, that the fathers 



52 LECTUREII. 

of our country were as distinguished for their 
high virtue, religious knowledge, and evange- 
lical purity, as for their mental cultivation and 
intelligence. They had their schools from the 
beginning; but the schoolmaster stood before 
his pupils with the book of God in his hand, 
and the young mind received a large portion of 
its intellence from the pages of inspiration. 
Thus were the men trained who formed our in- 
stitutions. These had all received their " form 
and pressure" before French infidelity had ban- 
ished the Bible from our schools. We should 
wait long before we should receive such insti- 
tutions from the* boasted intelligence of men 
who have been educated under different auspi- 
ces. And God knows whether the institutions 
which were thus built up under the divine 
smiles, would have endured to the present day, 
if the Lord had not corrected our folly, and 
saved us from its consequences, by the estab- 
lishment of Sabbath schools, thus bringing our 
children and youth into the connexion of God's 
instructions, from which they had been exclud- 
ed by the banishment of the divine oracles from 
our primary schools. May the correction be 
received with humility and thankfulness, and 
the lesson not be lost upon us. 

We owe much to education, but more to 
the Father of our spirits, who has blessed us 



EDUCATION. 53 

with the hght of the Sun of Righteousness. 
But we owe nothing to infidehty. We should 
have waited long enough for such institutions 
as we enjoy, if we had expected to derive them 
from such a source. The ordering of our lot 
has been marvellous both with respect to 
time and circumstances. I consider it among 
the special mercies of God that this country 
was not colonized until the Reformation had 
obtained a firm footing in Europe, and brought 
our fathers here enlightened by the truth and 
grace of God. Otherwise we should have close- 
ly resembled Mexico, and the South American 
states. The Spaniards were as enhghtened then 
as the English, in every thing excepting the 
knowledge of salvation. It was a circumstance 
no less merciful that our revolution was achiev- 
ed, while the infidehty which has since deluged 
Europe, and shaped its revolutions, was mainly 
confined to its higher and educated circles, and 
had scarcely reached even that class here. If 
that great event had been delayed even a quarter 
of a century^ the result mighty and probably would 
have been very different. At all events the 
revolutions through which other nations have 
subsequently passed, have had very different 
results. In no one instance have they resulted 
in the establishment of institutions which have 
fulfilled the wishes, and realized the hopes of 

5* 



54 LECTUREII. 

the enlightened friends of hberty, order, and 
rehgion. Look at France, Spain, Portugal, 
Naples, Mexico, and the South American 
States. They have all passed through revolu- 
tions, and some of them through several. And 
now, tell me, upon which of these countries 
does your eye rest with complacency? Of 
which of all of them would you say. There do 
I desire to dwell ? Many of them are fair, fer- 
tile, and salubrious. But which of them will 
bear a favourable comparison with this land of 
your birth or adoption ? 

And whence arises the difference? I will 
tell you, and I challenge contradiction. Here 
only was there religious light to direct and 
sanctify mere knowledge. This, of all of 
them, was the only land of Bibles. No where 
else did the young receive the knowledge of 
God, pure from the heavenly fountain, with the 
elements of their education. Our fathers only, 
of all the men of revolutions, had the grace not 
only to appeal to God for the rectitude of their 
intentions, but to put the issue into the hands 
of the God of the Bible with frequent fasting 
humiliation, and prayer, and to implore on it 
continually the healthful spirit of his grace. 
In this spirit were the foundations of our insti- 
tutions laid, and under these auspices was the 
edifice reared. Even men who were not dis- 



EDUCATION. 55 

tinguished for piety or religious zeal felt the 
force of the principle. Hear what Franklin 
said in the convention which formed the con- 
stitution under which we still live. It was 
when that assembly was perplexed, and it seem- 
ed exceedingly doubtful whether they would be 
able to agree on any thing. " In this situation 
of this assembly, groping as it were, in the dark, 
to find political truth, and scarce able to distin- 
guish it when presented to us, how has it happen- 
ed, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought 
of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to il- 
luminate our understandings ? In the beginning 
of the contest with Britain, when we were sensi- 
ble of danger, we had daily prayers in this room, 
for the Divine protection ! Our prayers, sir, 
were heard; and they were graciously answer- 
ed. All of us, who were engaged in the strug- 
gle, must have observed frequent instances of a 
superintending Providence in our favour. To 
that kind Providence we owe this happy oppor- 
tunity of consulting in peace on the means of 
establishing our future national felicity. And 
have we now forgotten that powerful friend? 
Or do we imagine we no longer need his assis- 
tance ? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the 
longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see 
of this truth. That God governs in the affairs of 
men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the 



56 LECTUREII. 

ground without his notice, is it probable that 
an empire can rise without his %id ?" 

You find nothing Uke this in the other revo- 
lutions to which I have referred. So far as 
they were loosed from the trammels of Catho- 
lic superstition, they were imbued with the 
principles and spirit of infidelity. Such were 
the Illuminati of France and Germany, the Li" 
berals of Spain and Portugal, and the Carho- 
nari of Italy. The revolutions of Mexico and 
South America were carried on upon the same 
principles. God seems to have put the mark 
of his divine reprobation upon these vain at- 
tempts; and appears to have established it as 
an axiom in human aflfairs, that men shall walk 
safely and comfortably by no light which they 
have not borrowed from the Sun of Righteous- 
ness. My dear hearers, you may educate men 
as highly as you please — you may rear every, 
^man amid the splendours of science — you may 
pour into every human mind all the lights of 
literature and science, and deny him the light 
of revelation, and leave his heart uncultivated 
by the grace of God, and you make him a 
blind giant, or arm him with greater power to 
do evil. This is the law of moral and intellec- 
tual existence; and the increasing experience 
of mankind will illustrate and verify it. The 



EDUCATION. 57 

perfections and word of God are guarantees of 
its truth. 

While, therefore, we attach all due import- 
ance to education, and labour to cultivate our 
own minds, and facilitate the cause of educa- 
tion among our fellow creatures to the extent 
of our ability, let us beware how we en- 
tertain the vain imagination, that man needs 
nothing more to fit him for his highest desti- 
nies, either here or hereafter, than the mere 
cultivation of his intellect. God has furnished 
us with a sufficiency of light on the subject, to 
convince us of the utter fallacy of such a hope. 
The experiment has been fairly tried, and men 
need not be deceived on the subject, unless 
they are wilfully so. It has long ago been de- 
termined that we shall reap what we sow. Ex- 
periments enough have been tried to convince 
the most sceptical. The field has been sown 
broad-cast with tares, but it has not yielded 
wheat. The law is as well established in morals 
as in nature, that every seed will produce fruit 
after its kind, and if Christian men will consent 
that infidels shall educate their children, or di- 
rect their education, let them blame themselves 
for the unblest results which shall flow from it. 
Let it not be believed, even for a moment, that 
because the constitution of our government has 
wisely guaranteed to every man the rights of 



58 LECTURE n. 

conscience, and denied itself all connexion with 
any sect, that we are therefore a nation of 
atheists, and that we are on that account 
bound to banish God and his revealed will from 
our schools. They had well nigh succeeded 
some years ago in persuading us that this was a 
constitutional axiom. Nothing however can be 
more fallacious. Christian freemen better un- 
derstand their rights. They know that they are 
entitled to say what books their children shall 
read, and in what principles they shall be educat- 
ed. And if it were not so, infidels would enjoy 
a constitutional pre-eminence over all others. 
They would then have the right of pre-occupy- 
ing the minds of the young, and render the in- 
troduction of better principles almost hopeless. 
This, however, can never be conceded under a 
government of equal laws. 

Let Christians reflect deeply and seriously on 
this subject. It is not among the least interest- 
ing of the signs of the times. God has gra- 
ciously given them a sufficiency of light on this 
all important subject, to enable them to discern 
the nature and tendency of the principle, and 
to understand their own duty with respect to it. 
He has put this " Salt of the earth" into their 
keeping, and made them responsible for its pre- 
servation, and due dissemination. They have 
it in their power to give a direction and char- 



EDUCATION. 59 

acter to education in this land which shall, un- 
der the Divine blessing, preserve and propagate 
the knowledge, to the sanctified use of which 
we are indebted, not only for our liberty, but 
for those institutions which give to liberty itself 
its highest value. These can be secured to us 
by no other means. Constitutions and laws 
have no binding force without morals, and mo- 
rals can never be maintained without divine 
sanctions. The morahty of the Bible itself 
would not outlive a single generation unless it 
were sustained in the consciences of men by 
the authority of God. Christian men can do 
much to maintain this position, and God and 
their country's highest interests require it at 
their hands. And if they can do nothing else, 
let them see to it that their own children do 
not lack culture in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord. Piety and patriotism both require 
this at their hands. 

And let it be distinctly remembered that no 
time is to be lost. The children have been 
born, and are probably now receiving their edu- 
cation, who will exercise a decisive and con- 
trolling influence over the destinies of our 
country, and with them, over no small portion 
of our race. Let them be rightly educated 
with a view to this high destiny, and the eyes 
of the nations will not be directed in vain to 



60 LECTUREII. 

this country. We shall solve the problems, 
whether mankind shall enjoy free institutions, 
and whether the Gospel of Christ can maintain 
itself in purity and power by its own energy 
and sanctified use. We are at present empha- 
tically " the city set on a hill." If we fulfil our 
high trust, we shall be a glorious example, to 
be followed by multitudes, and men shall call 
us blessed. But if we fail, we shall blast some 
of the fairest hopes which the friends of free- 
dom and religion have ever entertained. And 
all experience and observation prove incontes- 
tably that we shall fail, and miserably fail, un- 
less the mass of our population early learn the 
knowledge and fear of the Lord. Mere educa- 
tion will not save us, nor will it save the world. 
That high honour God has reserved for his 
Christ, and no sons of Behal shall share it with 
him. The world's light must come from hea- 
ven. Its redemption is by the cross. Diseas- 
ed human nature will never be cured but by 
the knowledge of the Son of God, and that 
knowledge will rarely be received, when the 
mind and heart have been previously filled 
with, and perverted by, a mere hterary or 
scientific education. If the people of God will 
not cast divine salt into these fountains of 
knowledge to sweeten their bitter waters, they 



EDUCATION. 61 

will have their children to drink of the unwhole- 
some streams till they perish. 

Finally, we may learn from this subject the 
importance and necessity of sustaining with the 
utmost vigour, and to the utmost extent, our 
Sabbath schools. When Christians foohshly, 
if not wickedly, suffered the Bible and its hal- 
lowed influences, to be banished from our pri- 
mary schools, God graciously led to the adop- 
tion of this system to aid his depressed cause, 
and counteract the influence of irreligion and 
infidelity. And no one can tell how much 
good has been effected by it. It will probably 
be long before the Bible will again be in gene- 
ral use in our schools, nor will it be eflTected 
without a long and severe struggle. But shall 
the young be neglected till that object is ef- 
fected? That would postpone the day indefi- 
nitely. The Bible will be restored to its place 
and ascendancy by the hands of those who 
shall be trained to its love and knowledge in 
our Sabbath schools. The Church has not yet 
done half its duty in this field of labour and 
Christian enterprise. The number of those to 
be benefitted by this means can easily be not 
only doubled, but quadrupled. Teachers and 
scholars can both be obtained, if the necessary 
exertions are only made. And can the duty 
be neglected without sin ? It cannot be with- 

6 



62 LECTURE II . E D U C A T I O N . 

out inconceivable danger and loss. Let it then 
be prosecuted with all the zeal and dihgence 
which its importance demands, and let it not be 
delayed, for the enemy stands ready with his 
tares. Let the work be done, and speedily, and 
well done, and the prediction will be the more 
speedily accomphshed, "They shall be all 
taught of God." 



LECTURE. III. 

RECKLESSNESS OF HUMAN LIFE. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 

CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

Most of my audience will probably recollect 
that their attention has, on two former occa- 
sions, been directed to the subject, which is to 
be further prosecuted this evening. On the 
first of these occasions, the great Missionary 
aspect of the times was considered. On the se- 
cond, the subject of Education engaged our at- 
tention. It appeared that, it had excited a much 
higher interest, and obtained a much more ex- 
tensive diffusion among mankind than during 
any former period of the history of our race; 
that from the present state of the world, and 
the general and growing importance which 
men attached to the subject, it would probably 
diffuse itself over the whole world; that it will 
very deeply affect both the minds and hearts 
of men, the domestic relations, the ordinary in- 
tercourse of life, the relations between nations, 
the habits of life, and public institutions, both 
civil and religious; that changes, both deep and 
radical, will be produced, but that their nature 



64 LECTUREIII. 

and properties, will, under God, depend upon 
the nature and qualities of the education which 
shall be communicated — that mere intellectual 
culture never did make men wise and good, 
nor fit them to fill up the various relations 
which they sustain to God and each other in a 
manner calculated to promote the best inter- 
ests of all concerned; that God's revealed will, 
contained in the sacred Scriptures, must lie at 
the foundation of all really good education, and 
that it is the duty, as well as the interest, of 
all who know its value, to seek its accomplish- 
ment. I now proceed to direct your atten- 
tion, 

III. To the small value which is apparently 
attached to human life in our country. 

Of all mere earthly good, life is the most 
valuable, and it is so esteemed by men. Hence 
the dread which men feel about loosing it, and 
the pains which they take, and the expense 
which they incur, to preserve it. This proba- 
bly arises, in no small degree, from the uncer- 
tainty under which they labour with respect to 
their condition after this life, and the connex- 
ion which they suppose to exist between the 
manner in which they shall pass their fives 
here, and their condition hereafter. But^ how- 
ever men may feel or act wdth respect to the 
subject, God evidently sets a very high value 
on human life, and has guarded it by the most 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 65 

solemn sanctions. This was his language to 
Noah on the subject, immediately after the 
flood, and was therefore designed to bind all 
his posterity. " And surely your blood of your 
lives will I require, at the hand of every beast 
will I require it, and at the hand of man ; at 
the hand of every man's brother will I require 
the hfe of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, 
by man shall his blood be shed; for in the 
image of God made he man." This principle 
was afterwards incorporated with the deca- 
logue. Three exceptions were made to the 
rule. 1. When a man ignorantly, and without 
design, was the cause of another's death. 2. 
When it became absolutely necessary to take 
the Hfe of another for the preservation of one's 
own life. 3. If a man should slay a thief who 
attempted to break into his house at night. 
For such cases the cities of refuge were pro- 
vided. 

From this it will appear that the law by 
which God protects human life is an original 
divine enactment, prior to, and independent of, 
the Jewish dispensation, and must, therefore, 
unless God has repealed it, which he has never 
done, be still in force. It is not to be denied that 
the Gospel enforces every principle of the mo- 
ral law^ and makes provision to sustain it by 
the highest motives, while it abrogates every 

6=^ 



66 LE CTURE III. 

thing which was merely ceremonial under the 
former dispensation. It was objected against 
the Gospel plan of salvation by grace that it 
made void the law. To which the Apostle 
Paul replies, " Do we then make void the law 
by faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the 
law.'' That is, the Gospel provides an ade- 
quate satisfaction for the penalty of the law by 
the death of Christ, and secures a better obe- 
dience on the part of man, by higher motives, 
from the influence of the grace of God on his 
heart. And while we admit that the Gospel 
throws an additional safeguard around the life 
of man, and renders it greatly more probable 
that he will regard the interests of his fellow 
creatures with favour, in proportion to the in- 
fluence which the grace of God exercises on 
his heart, we must at the same time deny that 
it has freed either saint or sinner from the mo- 
ral obligation of obedience, or the transgressor 
from the penalty by which God sanctions his 
law. For what purpose was the law given? 
Paul tells us in writing to Timothy. " Know- 
ing this, that the law was not made for a righ- 
teous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, 
for the ungodly and for sinners, for ungodly and 
profane, for murderers of fathers and murder- 
ers of mothers, for manslayers;" and after enu- 
merating a number of other crimes, he adds. 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 67 

" And if there be any other thing that is con- 
trary to sound doctrine, according to the glo- 
rious Gospel of the blessed God, which was 
committed to my trust.'' So that it is plain 
to the least degree of discernment, that " The 
glorious Gospel of the blessed God," has not 
only not abrogated the law, but estabhshed it. 
Nay, the blessed Saviour himself says, " Think 
not that I am come to destroy the law and 
the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but 
to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till hea- 
ven and earth pass, one jot or title shall in no 
wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." 
That is, the moral law shall endure while God 
and intelligent creatures exist. 

It would then be reasonable to suppose that 
that branch of the law which guards human 
life would be respected by men as extensively 
as they had knowledge of it, particularly where 
its precepts were inculcated, and its impor- 
tance and sanctions understood, especially 
where the great body of the community were 
intimately connected with the enactment of 
laws, and equally aflfected by their character 
and observance. If this be so, then should 
human hfe no where be more sacredly regard- 
ed, or be considered as surrounded by strong- 
er safeguards than in the land in which we 
dwell. 



68 LECTUREIII. 

No where else are freer and happier institu- 
tions enjoyed. We are in the habit of con- 
sidering the providence of God as having been 
directly and benignly concerned in their estab- 
lishment. We view with unfeigned admiration 
the times selected by God for the discovery 
and settlement of our country, the revolution 
which separated us politically from Great Bri- 
tain, and the formation of our government. 
If America had been discovered sooner, or the 
northern part earlier settled, we should proba- 
bly have been a nation of ignorant and super- 
stitious Cathohcs. If the revolution and the 
establishment of our institutions had been only 
a quarter of a century later, the deleterious in- 
fluence of infidelity would have been deeply 
felt, and left its broad mark upon every thing. 

Our federal constitution, with a single ex- 
ception, recognises and estabhshes, on the 
broadest principles, every human right. In no 
country on earth is so large a proportion of 
the population so nearly concerned in the en- 
actment of all laws by which the land is gov- 
erned, through the extension of the elective 
franchise. Our laws are, in the main, good 
and equal, and calculated to promote the in- 
terests, and secure the rights of all. In no 
other country have the people a deeper inter- 
est in maintaining the supremacy of the law, 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 69 

and the administration of equal justice. We 
are distinguished among the nations of the 
earth for the extension of education, and the 
dissemination of intelhgence among the mass 
of the people. And no people better under- 
stand, and more highly prize their rights. We 
also have the sacred Scriptures, that volume 
of divine wisdom, together with all the ordi- 
nances and appliances of revealed religion, in 
as pure a state, and rich abundance, as they 
have ever been enjoyed on earth. Nor have 
they been without the divine blessing. And 
with respect to human Hfe, we know that God 
has guarded it by an express law, the penahy of 
which he has declared to be death, and added 
to it, that no murderer shall inherit the king- 
dom of heaven, and the law of every State and 
Territory in this wide spread union denounces 
the penalty of death against every murderer. 
And yet it is a fact, that notwithstanding all 
the light which we enjoy, and all the safe- 
guards which the laws both of God and man 
have thrown around human life, a large num- 
ber of lives are yearly destroyed either by 
recklessness or violence. 

I have not been able to possess myself of 
the statistics on the subject, but it is known to 
all who hear me, that a number perish yearly 
by steamboats on the waters of our country. 



70 LECTUREIII. 

I speak not here of the ordinary dangers and 
casualties connected with this species of navi- 
gation, whether on the ocean, or on our lakes 
and rivers, but of those which arise from the 
action of fire. Several of these vessels have 
been destroyed by jBre, and with them a con- 
siderable number of human beings. And ex- 
plosions, more or less destructive, have been so 
frequent during the season of navigation, as al- 
most to be expected as articles of weekly intel- 
ligence. And unless the destruction of human 
life has been very extensive, or the circum- 
stances very peculiar, it has soon passed away 
with trifling animadversion, been soon forgot- 
ten, slight investigations as to the cause or 
blame worthiness have ensued, and but little 
pains have been taken to guard against the 
evil in future, whether it has resulted from de- 
fective construction, or carelessness or reck- 
lessness on the part of those who have had the 
management of the concern. Thus have many 
hundreds of lives been destroyed, and multi- 
tudes of human beings, in the freshness of their 
sins, been hurried into the presence of their 
Maker, to give an account of the deeds done 
in the body, without time for repentance or 
warning to prepare. But it seems neither to 
have diminished this mode of travel, nor to 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE, 71 

have increased the anxiety of those who were 
exposed to its dangers. 

And yet, most of the disasters which have 
occurred have arisen from the inordinate speed 
with which they have been attempted to be pro- 
pelled, or, an utter inattention to the state of the 
machinery. Explosions would rarely, if ever, 
take place, with a competent quantity of water 
in the boiler, and that is a fact which, ordina- 
rily, may easily be ascertained. But, with the 
love of mastery impelhng them, men are often 
wilfully blind to the true state of the case, or, 
through the hurry produced by the eagerness of 
competition, they forget their duty, even when 
many lives are dependant on it. In most cases, 
the disasters which occur, arise from these 
causes. Nor are the managers of these ves- 
sels the only ones who are to blame. Passen- 
gers, not only stand by and witness the hazard- 
ous and reckless competition which takes place, 
without remonstrance, but they urge them on 
to more inordinate exertion, even to the point 
of destruction. Nay, in commencing a journey, 
they will prefer the master who will wage the 
strife, and the vessel which promises success in 
doing it. And where are the restraints which 
are imposed on the practice, either by public 
sentiment, or by law? 

This is one of the evil spirits of the age in 



72 LEOTUREIII. 

• 

which we live, which needs to be allayed; one of 
the portentous signs of these times ; one of the 
forms of hurry into which the human mind has 
been thrown, and under the influence of which it 
is driving headlong, at every object which pre- 
sents itself to view, without regard to duty or 
consequences. Think it not strange, therefore, 
that a minister of the Gospel should rebuke this 
spirit from the heights of Zion, when it has 
brought the guilt of so much blood upon a land 
so deeply indebted to the Divine goodness as 
ours. I refer to the subject, to show that hu- 
man life is valued among us at a low rate, in- 
ducing greatly less care of it than its impor- 
tance demands. Such accidents, (as they are 
called,) as occur, almost weekly, on our West- 
ern waters, without giving rise to legal investi- 
gation, or strong animadversion in the public 
prints, would, in almost every other civilized 
country, occasion the closest legal inquiry, and 
be frequently followed by condign punishment. 
Here, even the public press, which boasts so 
high a degree of independence, can, with diffi- 
culty, be brought to publish well authenticated 
statements of facts, where influential individuals 
or companies are concerned. For this reason, 
no wholesome public sentiment can be formed 
on the subject, which would constrain public 
functionaries to do their duty. 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 73 

A still more distressing and alarming feature, 
in this sign of the times, may be found in the 
lawless violence with which indviduals and com- 
panies assail each other's lives, and the rareness 
with which it is followed by adequate punish- 
ment. In a country of laws^ and boasting itself, 
on that account, to be the happiest and freest 
on earth, many constitute themselves their own 
law, and judge, and executioner of their own 
passionate and bloody purposes. You will rea- 
dily call to mind the Vicksburg tragedy. It is 
true, the unhappy sufferers were only a com- 
pany of gamblers, and the actors professed to 
be influenced by a desire to maintain the virtue 
and safety of the youth upon whom the harpies 
were preying. But who would, or could, live 
in a community, the very virtue of which was 
thus lawless and bloody? And how ready were 
they, in other places, to follow the unblest ex- 
ample, and wdth what difficulty were they re- 
strained? It seemed as if a sympathetic spirit 
pervaded the land about those days. Baltimore 
was without law or order for several days, nor 
were they restored till several lives were lost. 
The same spirit gave rise to the burning of the 
convent at Charlestown, in Massachusetts, and 
the election and flour mobs in New York. 
Even our own peaceful city, as you know, was, 
for several nights, in so disturbed a state as to 

7 



74 LECTURE III. 

excite deep and serious alarm. Strong appre- 
hensions even began to be entertained by the 
friends of order throughout our land, that the 
time was rapidly passing away when every man 
could sit in peace under his own vine and fig- 
tree, without any to molest or make him afraid. 
And, when we began to hope that this foul 
spirit had departed, we became painfully con- 
vinced of his presence and influence, at Alton — 
the more painfully, because a minister of the 
Gospel, and of our own Church, died there, " as 
a fool dieth," with arms in his hands, which he 
had, a few moments before, probably used 
against a fellow creature. These things are cal- 
culated to humble us before God, as they have dis- 
graced us before the civilized world. Our blessed 
institutions, themselves, have been impugned on 
account of it, and our citizens have been ob- 
liged to hang their heads in shame and mortifi- 
cation before foreigners, who attribute it all to 
those very institutions. And, what is worse 
than allj the majesty of our injured laws has 
not been vindicated. Blood still cries from the 
ground to the God of Hfe! 

But this is not all. Blood has been shed, in 
not a few instances, by individuals, as well as 
by mobs, who were inflamed by passion ; and 
that, not merely when they have been brought 
into sudden colhsion with each other, and un- 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 75 

der the influence of highly excited passions, but 
they have gone about the work of death, with 
the cool dehberation of the practiced duelhst, 
the assassin by trade, or the butcher to the 
slaughter of an ox. Men do not even seek the 
darkness and secrecy of night for the perform- 
ance of such works, but they let the light of 
day shine upon them, and the eyes of men see 
them. Within a few months, such a tragedy 
was enacted in one of the legislative halls of 
our country. What will, and ought, the world 
to think and say, when it is told, that the 
Speaker, the highest officer in one of our legis- 
lative assemblies, in the presence of all his 
brethren, and while the body was in session, 
rose up from his official seat, walked delibe- 
rately across the floor to where his companion 
was seated, and stabbed him to the heart! 
What must we think of the morals of our 
country, in this respect, when the editor of a 
leading public journal can publish to the world, 
that he, for hours, endeavored to find a man, 
that he might maim or kill him, because he 
would not meet Mm in a duel, while he con- 
tinues his occupation, with a slightly diminished 
subscription hst, and is sustained by a large 
number of patrons? You may, probably, find 
his paper in most of the reading-rooms of 
Philadelphia, and it would not surprise me, if it 



76 LECTURE III. 

were the first paper inquired after by many. 
At what rate is human Ufe valued in our coun- 
try, when a member of Congress can tell his 
constituents, and through them the American 
people, that he, and, by implication, all others, 
go to the seat of our national government, in 
the discharge of their public duties, not under 
the protection of law, but in dependence on 
the strength or skill of their own arms? and 
who denies or rebukes the assertion? Nay, he 
avers, that his constituents approve of it, and 
will sustain him in it. God grant that he may 
find himself mistaken. 

That I am not overstating the case is evident 
from the declared fact, that in large portions of 
our country, pistols and bowie-knives are the 
ordinary travelling companions of many ; and 
that, in several places, many men go thus 
armed in their daily avocations. If these 
things are not so, why do we almost daily read 
in our public prints, of one being stabbed, and 
another shot down in the public streets? And 
why, in several of the States of the Union, 
have the legislatures passed, or attempted to 
pass, laws to prevent, not the use, but the 
wearing of such weapons? And why, if men 
are not afraid of personal violence, or if they 
do not intend to commit violence on others, do 
they go about, among their fellow creatures. 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 77 

thus prepared for it? Thus scores, perhaps hun- 
dreds, perish in our country every year. These 
will be dark lines in the history of our age and 
country; and they cannot be obliterated. And, 
if this wave of blood rolls on, it will wear for 
itself deeper and broader channels, until this 
declaration of God shall be verified in our 
country, " The Lord cometh out of his place 
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their 
inquity: the earth, also, shall disclose her 
blood, and shall no more cover her slain.'' 
Are we not in danger of such a visitation ? 

I add but one item more to the black cata- 
logue, and I do it with deep pain, because it 
implicates a class who occupy high places, 
claim great deference, and the influence of 
whose example, whether for good or evil, is not 
easily calculated — I mean, the practice of duel- 
ling. I would define a duel to be, a personal 
contest between two human beings, with deadly 
weapons, who consider themselves and their 
personal concerns to be of such immense im- 
portance as to render it unsafe and improper to 
have them regulated or controlled by the laws 
either of God or man, and therefore, throwing 
off all the restraints imposed by either, take the 
whole subject into their own hands, and murder 
each other, to prove that they are gentlemen. 
The spirit which induces the practice is a com- 



78 LECTUREIII. 

pound of pride, malevolence, vain glory, and 
lawlessness, which unfit a man for being a 
wholesome member of any society, or from fill- 
ing up any of his relations in a becoming man- 
ner. What is to hinder a man, who for certain 
purposes feels himself to be above all laws, both 
human and divine, to trample upon all laws, 
when his convenience or passions shall prompt 
him to do so? what security has a country that 
such a man will fulfil any trust committed to 
him? that he will not stop by the way to throw 
away his life, or make himself a murderer? It 
is evident that the law of God will not restrain 
him, for he sins knowingly and wilfully in its 
very face. The law of friendship does not con- 
trol him, for many a friend has thus fallen by 
the hand of his friend. The dueUist is not 
bound by the ties which unite hearts in the 
dearest, sweetest, and most holy relations 
which are known on earth, as many a heart- 
broken widow, and hapless orphan can testify. 
The eternal and unmitigated wrath of God does 
not stay his hand, for he knows that " no mur- 
derer hath eternal life," and yet performs the 
deed. He knows that no duellist can stand be- 
fore the judgment seat of Christ, and yet he 
sends his fellow creature there without the pos- 
sibility of repentance. 

But however wicked and cruel the spirit may 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 79 

be in itself, and however inconsistent with all 
law, human and divine, and however hostile to 
the peace and order of society, and the comfort 
of individuals and families, it unhappily exists, 
exercises an extensive influence, and bears 
deadly fruit, in this land in which we have a 
sufficiency of light to understand our rights and 
duties, and law enough to secure our persons 
and privileges. Even here, many claim the 
privilege of being so far above law as to be 
both the judge and executioner in their own 
cause, even to the taking of the life of a fellow 
creature — a right which no just or equal law 
ever concedes to the most upright and intelli- 
gent man in community, if the interest of a dol- 
lar were involved in it. The presumption upon 
which the law is founded is correct. How then 
can a man be entrusted to weigh a point of 
honour, a mere punctilio, in his own cause, when 
in almost all cases, false pride sits as judge, and 
passion acts the double part of witness and exe- 
cutioner? Yet in this self-constituted, partial, 
and doubly-unlawful court, men are every 
month tried for their lives, and executed. And 
while the blood is flowing, and widows and or- 
phans stand by, and weep in speechless agony, 
the enlightened freemen of these United States 
pass by on one side, and her enlightened Chris- 



80 L E C T U R E 1 1 1 . 

tians on the other ; but they are both mute, or 
speak in so low an under-tone that nobody- 
hears them. There has indeed been a httle 
drowsy grumbhng on account of a recent exhi- 
bition of blood at the seat of our national gov- 
ernment, but not enough to prevent that gov- 
ernment, with the exception of our time honour- 
ed Judiciary, (and may God bless them for it,) 
from officially honouring the name and obsequies 
of him who happened to be the victim, and con- 
tinuing to sit in the council of official brother- 
hood with the survivors, as if there were no 
stain of blood on their souls. And a portion of 
our countrymen will before long have an oppor- 
tunity of proving at what rate they value hu- 
man blood, thus shed, when these men shall 
again present themselves before them for their 
suffrages. 

My dear hearers, the American people have 
many stains of this kind fixed upon them. This 
is not the first, nor the tenth, nor the hundreth 
instance which has occurred. The lawyer, the 
physician, the legislator, the merchant, and the 
planter, have all been the worshippers and the 
victims of this bloody Moloch. And why are 
these things so? Is the disease incurable? Is 
it impossible to rectify the evil ? If the body of 
the American people do not approve of the hor- 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 81 

rid practice, they can easily abate the nuisance. 
They can create a public sentiment on the sub- 
ject before which no man can stand. Let the 
subject be presented before the public in its true 
light by the press. Let the law declare every 
survivor in such a conflict a murderer, and deal 
with him accordingly. Let it assign a place for 
life in the penitentiary, where death does not 
ensue, to both principals and accessaries. Let 
judges and jurors render verdicts according to 
law and evidence. Let there be no pardoning 
power which can reach the case. Let all the 
parties concerned in duels be for ever incapaci- 
tated from holding any office of profit or trust. 
Let the public press cease to parade duels be- 
fore the world as articles of intelligence. Let 
the public treat them with the scorn they de- 
serve — and let survivors be made responsible 
for the support of the widows and orphans of 
their victims, and the practice would not long 
exist, much less be held in honour. And if it can 
be suppressed, who should be held responsible 
for its continuance ? 

I have thus endeavored, my dear hearers, to 
hold up to your view one of the dark signs of 
the times in w^hich we live — one of the clouds 
which obscure our country's glory — one of the 
evils which mar our happy lot, hinder our 



82 LECTURE UK 

prosperity, and may draw down divine judg- 
ments upon us. My apology, as a minister of 
the gospel, if it be necessary to make one, for 
exhibiting such a subject in such a place, is, the 
nature and notoriety of the facts which I have 
stated, their bearing upon the welfare of our 
country, their unhappy influence on the institu- 
tions of religion, the unfrequency of their being 
pressed upon the attention of the people, and 
the command of God, "Tell my people their 
transgressions, and the house of Jacob their 
sins" — " Give them warning from me.'' I do, 
therefore, give you warning from God. We 
are, verily, guilty in this thing, and should re- 
pent, and do works meet for repentance. It is 
the sin of our day, and of our nation. The 
whole land is implicated. Every rank is impli- 
cated in this sin, in one form or other, for we 
have at least been looking on, and seeing it, 
and by our silence, conniving at it, instead of 
lifting up our voices like trumpets against it. 
I speak it with boldness, but with great sorrow, 
the public sentiment of our country favours the 
light estimation in which human life is held. 
The proof of it is found in the facts, that how- 
ever clear the proof of blood guiltiness may be, 
it is difficult to find a jury willing to convict the 
culprit, if the offence be capital, although jurors 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE. 83 

have bound themselves by the oath of God, to 
bring in a verdict according to law and evi- 
dence — and greatly more pains is taken to pro- 
cure pardon, or mitigation of penalty, in such 
cases, than to bring the most grievous offenders 
to justice, even if the welfare of society, as well 
as the laws of God and man, demand their con- 
dign punishment. I should think it strange that 
sinful man should pretend to be so much more 
merciful than that God who gave his only be- 
gotten Son to die for us, did I not remember 
that "The heart is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked.'' If this were not so, 
it would be impossible that men should feel a 
deeper sympathy for criminals, than for the hap- 
less victims of their crimes. I consider this 
spurious sympathy as a kind of premium for 
half the blood that is shed by private hands in 
our country. You would find very few men 
ready to fight duels, or stab or pistol a fellow 
creature in the streets, if they expected to be 
hung for it. Put them under the wholesome 
restraint of the fear of the halter, and they 
would soon learn to set a higher value on the 
lives of their neighbours. They would then 
weigh them in opposite scales with their own — 
and their self-esteem would become the pledge 
of their neighbour's safety. 



84 LECTURE II !• 

What, then, can be done to give greater se- 
curity to human life? to repress the lawless 
and violent, and keep back their hands from 
shedding blood? I have already, in part, an- 
svrered this inquiry. I add, that God claims a 
special right in the life of man, and has put it 
under the shield of his Divine protection : " At 
the hand of every man's brother v^dll I require 
the life of man." The whole community, and 
every man in it, is made responsible to God for 
the personal security of all its members, and, if 
a human hfe be unlawfully taken, the guilt rests 
on the community, until the culprit is sought 
out with all proper diligence, and the offender 
be duly punished. Let this sentiment be faith- 
fully inculcated; let conscience be enlight- 
ened on the subject ; let it be connected, as it 
should be, with our primary relations to God ; 
let it be impressed on the minds of the young, 
as a Divine requirement; make them ac- 
quainted with the fact, that they have been 
constituted the responsible guardians of the 
lives of their fellow creatures by a Divine stat- 
ute ; let the spurious morality, which learns its 
duty from the sympathies of a corrupt heart, 
be exploded ; — and human life would cease to 
be so lightly and wickedly assailed, and so 
wantonly thrown away. 



RECKLESSNESS OF LIFE, 85 

Above all, let it be remembered, that human 
life derives its principal value from the worth 
and state of the souL The worth of the soul 
no man can measure, who cannot measure the 
amount of its enjoyment or suffering in an end- 
less state of existence, or, duly estimate the 
value of what Christ has done and suffered for 
its salvation. Its salvation depends upon its 
state at death ; so that, he who cuts off the life 
of man in his sins, becomes guilty of his eternal 
damnation, by cutting off the possibility of his 
salvation. This, I suppose, to be one of the 
reasons why God has, with more than paternal 
solicitude, guarded the life of man ; and this is 
the principal reason why I have laboured to ex- 
pose so many of the ways in which it is wan- 
tonly and wickedly abridged in this age and 
country. May we not read God's righteous 
retribution for our wanton disregard of human 
life, in the blood and disasters connected with 
the seemingly interminable war which w^e are 
waging against the remnant of a tribe of In- 
dians ; and the recklessness with which a por- 
tion of our citizens appear to be anxious to 
hurry us into a war with a foreign nation? Is it 
not time we should learn the worth of souls, and 
avert the wrath of God, by caring for that upon 
which the welfare of souls depends — human 
life? Let the lesson, then, be duly and dili- 

8 



86 LECTURE III. RECKLESSNESS, &C. 

gently inculcated. And let us endeavour, if we 
cannot remove this portentous cloud, pregnant 
with wrath for blood, from our horizon, to 
spring across it the bow of promise, by seek- 
ing for our country the forgiving love and the 
restraining grace of God. 



LECTURE IV. 

GOD'S FROWNS AGAINST COVETOUSNESS. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

On the last occasion, when this subject engaged 
our attention, we considered " the cheap rate 
at which human hfe was held in our country," 
as one of the unhappy signs of the times in 
which we live. It was then remarked, that 
notwithstanding the strictness and care with 
w^hich the Lord had guarded human life, there 
were four ways in which it was wantonly as- 
sailed, and foolishly or wickedly thrown away 
in this age and country : viz. " by the reckless 
manner in w^hich steamboats are navigated 
upon the waters of our country; by the un- 
governable passions of mobs ; by the unlawful 
possession and use of deadly weapons in the 
ordinary intercourse of life ; and, by the prac- 
tice of duelling. It appeared, that hundreds of 
lives were thus wickedly sacrificed every year ; 
and that this arose, principally, from the disre- 
gard of God's law^ on the subject, and the diffi- 
culty of procuring the adequate punishment of 



88 



LECTURE IV 



those who treated the Uves of their fellow crea- 
tures so lightly. 

The picture, which truth and duty obliged 
me to present to your view was both horrible 
and appalling. It is a melancholy considera- 
tion, that in a country so enlightened, so 
blessed of God in every respect, life, so valu- 
able on every account, should be the sport of 
diabolical passions ; and that a people, calling 
themselves Christian, should so far tolerate the 
evil as to make it the sin of the nation. That 
it should subject us to the frowns of Jehovah, 
ought not to be surprising, when it is remem- 
bered, that he values the soul of man at the 
price of his Son's blood. There is enough in 
this subject, as connected with our country, to 
make us mourn and tremble. This, however, 
is not the only sign w hich is worthy of our 
serious attention as Christians, and American 
citizens. I design to direct your attention, in 
the prosecution of my object, from time to 
time, to some of the aspects of Divine Provi- 
dence towards our land. These, if they are 
carefully and attentively studied, may furnish 
us with some important lessons of practical 
wisdom. Says the Psalmist, in the view of 
God's deaUngs with the children of Israel, 
" Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, 
even they shall understand the loving-kindness 



COVETOUSNESS. 89 

of the Lord." The folly, as well as wicked- 
ness, of those who disregard the judgments of 
God, is declared in these words: "Therefore 
he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, 
and the strength of battle : and it hath set him 
on fire round about, yet he knew not ; and it 
burned him, yet he laid it not to heart." The 
lines of Divine Providence do, at least, some- 
times teach men their characters, and the Hght 
in which God views them. Is there any thing, 
then, in God's dealings with us, which is 
worthy of special notice? Yes, my hearers, 
there are several things. Let me direct your 
attention, 

IV. To the monied concerns of our country^ 
as the fourth sign of the times. 

There are those now living, who have a dis- 
tinct recollection of our condition when we 
came out of the perils and trials of the revo- 
lutionary struggle, few in number, the country 
almost a wilderness, well nigh without law or 
government, deeply involved in debt, and with 
few resources. The man who possessed a few 
hundreds of dollars thought himself well off; 
and the possessor of a few thousands w^as es- 
teemed rich. What changes have taken place? 
A few years have passed, and the httle one has 
become a thousand. Our population has more 
than twice doubled. The wilderness has, very 

8* 



90 LECTUREIV* 

extensively disappeared, and the fruitful field 
has taken its place ; a regular and happy frame 
of government has been organized ; wholesome 
laws have been enacted; villages, towns, and 
cities, have every where sprung up ; schools, 
academies, and colleges, have been instituted in 
every part of the land ; facilities for intercom- 
munication between every part of this widely 
extended country, by turnpikes, railroads, ca- 
nals, and navigation by steam, have never been 
exceeded in any age or country ; and, agricul- 
ture, manufactures, and commerce, have been 
pursued with untiring industry, and great suc- 
cess. The improvement and advancement of 
this country have had no parallel in the history 
of nations. 

The speaker can remember when the States 
of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, 
Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, Ohio, half of Pennsylvania, 
and all of New York lying west of Utica, were 
a wilderness. When there was neither turn- 
pike, railroad, canal, or steamboat, in the 
Union. When any species of manufacture 
scarcely extended beyond the family. When 
there were, probably, not as many traders in 
the United States as the city of New York 
might have furnished two years ago. When, 
the colleges of the country consisted of, Har- 



C OVE TOUSNESS. 91 

vard, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Princeton, 
the University of Pennsylvania, and William 
and Mary's, in Virginia. And, when there was 
no post-office in the State of New York west 
of Schenectady. 

What amazing changes have taken place! 
greater, perhaps, in nothing, than in the in- 
crease of wealth. This may be attributed, un- 
der God, to the character of our population, 
the spirit of the age, and the state of Europe. 
The American people were a hardy, enterpris- 
ing, active, and industrious race of men. The 
human mind received an impulse at the Refor- 
mation which it has never lost. This, was 
partly owing to the revival of letters, and the 
greatly extended spread of education; partly 
to the discovery of America, and the passage 
to India by the Cape of Good Hope, and the 
influence of both on commerce, and the art of 
printing ; and partly, to the excitement of the 
human mind, by the influence of rehgious prin- 
ciple. This impulse was re-invigorated by our 
revolution, and strengthened by the course of 
events which grew out of, and followed it in 
Europe. I allude, particularly, to the wars 
connected with the French revolution. 

The eflfect of these upon the American peo- 
ple was circumstantially peculiar, but natural. 
We were a young, enterprising people, sprung 



92 LECTURBIV. 

from a commercial stock, and locally con- 
nected with the ocean. The preponderance of 
the British on that element, made us the car- 
riers of the other nations, and, for certain pur- 
poses, of the British themselves ; and thus, we 
became commingled with the commerce of the 
world. The employment of such vast masses 
of men in war, sensibly affected the agriculture 
of Europe, created a demand for our bread- 
stuffs, and quickened us in agricultural pursuits. 
And the war of 1812, with England, called into 
existence our manufactures. By this combina- 
tion of circumstances, we have not only be- 
come one of the most active and enterprising 
nations on the face of the earth, but one of the 
most successful and prosperous in every branch 
of productive industry. 

The effect of all this has been truly astonish- 
ing. Such a career of prosperity has, perhaps, 
never before been run. The same proportional 
number has probably, in no other age or coun- 
try, in an equal space of time, advanced from 
small beginnings, not only to competence, but 
to wealth and exuberance. The earth has 
brought forth by handfuls, and every branch 
of industry has flourished and been productive. 
Does the history of nations furnish a parallel 
to our apparent prosperity, and the buoyancy 
of our hope of the future, two or three years 



COVETOUSNESS. 93 

ago? Like the Church of Laodicea, we were 
" rich, and increased with goods, and had need 
of nothing." Our " mountain stood strong," 
and we said, " I shall never be moved." Our 
prosperity seemed like the waters of the river 
of Egypt, the source of exhaustless fertility. 
The harvest was rich and ripe, and the field 
boundless; and it was but for every man to 
put in his sickle, and fill his bosom with the 
sheaves. Any body might grow rich that had 
the resolution to will it. If a man had skill 
enough to draw a map of a city on a sheet of 
paper, he could make a fortune in a month. 
Our hundreds became thousands, and our thou- 
sands were multiplied into millions. The 
whole public mind was not only agitated under 
the influence of this unparalleled prosperity, 
but there was an expansion of grasp, of desire, 
and of hope, which saw neither end nor limit 
to the acquisition of this world's goods. Few 
doubted their ability to obtain their desires, 
and few were careful to confine their desires 
within reasonable or moderate bounds. And it 
seemed, for a time, as if the Lord was about 
to gratify them to more than the extent of rea- 
sonable wishes on the subject. If the wishes 
of men had been reasonable, multitudes might 
have said : " Thou hast goods laid up in store 
for many years ; take thine ease." But, while 



94 LECTUREIV. 

Providence smiled, few could find it in their 
hearts to retire from the career they were run- 
ning. Let it suffice to say, that this mighty 
river, swelled by a thousand tributary streams, 
became broader, and deeper, and more rapid, 
as it rolled along before the admiring, and still 
longing eyes of our countrymen, as they were 
moving on with its current. 

This flood attained its height about three 
years ago. There were indeed observed, by 
nice discerners, some two years before, certain 
motions about these rolling waters, which indi- 
cated, not only the presence of a disturbing 
force, but the decay of the flood. Then came 
a sudden sinking of the water, which some 
called in derision, " a panic," but which wiser 
men considered, and the event has verified 
their wisdom, as the precursor of a deep, if not 
of a rapid decHne. It is true, a number of 
barques were shattered or overwhelmed ; but 
they were represented to have been unsound 
and feeble. Others ran aground; but they 
were supposed to have been badly managed, or 
overloaded. But the hope still was, that the 
interruption of our prosperity would be very 
partial and brief. Our spirits were still buoy- 
ant, and our hope strong. Still, one change 
kept following another, but none brought the 
desired relief. 



COVETOUSNESS. 95 

Our currency and exchanges became de- 
ranged. Business became unsafe, interrupted, 
unprofitable, diminished. The grand produc- 
tive staple of our country would not command 
two-thirds of its former price, which rendered 
it impossible for us to pay our foreign debts, 
without draining us of the precious metals ; de- 
ranging further the currency, and depressing 
the business of the country. The evil was in- 
creased, by the necessity which obliged us to 
import bread-stuffs for the support of human 
Kfe ; by the want of stated and profitable em- 
ployment for hundreds of thousands of our in- 
habitants; by the increased price of the ne- 
cessaries of life, and the diminished means of 
procuring them ; by the stagnation of the pro- 
ductive industry of the country; by the de- 
struction of milhons of property, by extensive 
conflagrations in several of our cities ; and, by 
the lack of that confidence which transfuses 
life and spirit into all the concerns of hfe. 

Now, be the causes what they may, these 
are the facts of the case, known, acknowledged, 
and felt, in every part of our land, and in every 
department of business, and of life. The 
change is every where manifest and felt; in 
the city, and in the country; on the land, and 
on the water; in the counting-house, in the 
manufactory, in the workshop, and on the 



96 LECTURE IV. 

farm. Without any national disaster, sweep- 
ing pestilence, blighting drought, devastating 
and destructive war, or overwhelming provi- 
dence, we have, in a comparatively short time, 
descended, I cannot say, fallen — for we have 
scarcely felt a shock — from a state of the most 
high and palmy prosperity, to a state of de- 
pression which has deeply affected a whole 
people in all their interests. Some have 
been ruined; some have been maddened: all 
have felt it. It has indeed been a great 
change. It has come upon us, in a great de- 
gree, unexpectedly. Who has, or could have, 
anticipated it? 

I am aware that this change has been at- 
tributed to a variety of causes. We have all 
heard of the United States Bank ; the removal 
of the deposites; the refusal to renew the 
charter of that institution ; the specie circular ; 
the surplus revenue ; trading on borrowed capi- 
tal ; over-issues on the part of the banks ; the 
inordinate increase of these institutions ; and, 
the speculations in the pubhc lands. All these 
have been represented, by one and another, as 
having contributed to produce this state of 
things. One has found the cause in one thing ; 
and others, in another. My hearers, however, 
do not expect me, standing on these heights of 
Zion, to enter into the political or economical 



COVETOUSNESS. 97 

considerations which stand connected with the 
subject. Nor shall they have occasion, justly, 
to accuse me of it. This portentous sign of 
the times, upon which we have fallen, has 
other aspects, of a more important and solemn 
character, to which the Christian observer, 
standing on his watch-tower, may more profit- 
ably turn his attention, and from which he may 
read to his hearers lessons of practical wisdom, 
involving their highest interests. 

Neither our present state, nor the one which 
preceded it, were irrespective of the govern- 
ment of God, and our allegiance to him. 
While rain and fruitful seasons, and every 
earthly good, are Divine gifts, coming down 
from the Father of lights, "affliction cometh 
not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble 
spring out of the ground." If God has 
changed his face towards us, there is a reason 
for it, and, more than probably, that reason 
may be found in ourselves. Of the truth of 
this I am fully persuaded. Will my hearers in- 
dulge me with their undivided and prayerful at- 
tention, while I endeavour to show why the 
Lord has brought us into our present circum- 
stances. 

The pursuit of wealth among us has been 
eager. The love of gain has been a perfect 
passion — the master passion, which, like Aa- 

9 



98 LECTUREIV, 

ron's rod, has swallowed up all the others. It 
has pervaded all ranks and professions. Men 
of business have been dissatisfied with the slow 
returns and moderate profits, which were once 
thought desirable and sufficient, and have 
spread themselves out, not only to the extent 
of their capital, but of their credit. Profes- 
sional men have become dissatisfied with the 
decent competence arising from their profes- 
sional labours, and rushed into the vortex of 
speculation. Christians have forgotten, if they 
ever learned, those lessons of moderation and 
contentment, which are so fully inculcated by 
the word and grace of God, and, identifying 
themselves with the lovers of the present world, 
have spread every sail, to catch every breath 
of this contaminated air, if it only promised to 
make them suddenly rich. Even the sacred 
ministry of the blessed Jesus, whose disciple 
no man can be without denying himself, have 
been draw^n into this whirlpool, and already 
stand as beacon-hghts, to warn their brethren 
of the dangers of this coast, already thickly 
strewed with wrecks. Our children, in the 
greenness of their youth and inexperience, are 
learning the lesson so eflfectually, as to grudge 
the time spent in receiving their education, be- 
cause it detains them from the embraces of 
mammon. 



COVETOUSNESS. 99 

In hearts thus occupied and exercised, it is 
manifest there can be Httle room for the love of 
God and better things ; and if the good seed 
should, perchance, take root and vegetate, it 
will produce a feeble, sickly plant, because 
overshadowed by this deadly tree. What else 
do the Scriptures teach: "If any man love 
the world, the love of the Father is not in 
him." "Lay not up for yourselves treasures 
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, 
and where thieves break through, and steal: 
for where your treasure is, there will your 
heart be also." " He that maketh haste to be 
rich shall not be innocent." " They that will 
be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and 
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which 
drown men in destruction and perdition. For 
the love of money is the root of all evil; 
which while some men coveted after, they have 
erred from the faith, and pierced themselves 
through with many sorrows. But thou, O man 
of God, flee these things." 

Many unhappy consequences flow from the 
love and eager pursuits of the world. God is 
very unapt to be kept in the thoughts and 
hearts of such men. They rarely make suit- 
able returns of love and gratitude to God for 
the rich gifts of his providence. They seldom 
use a due proportion of them to promote his 



100 LECTURE IV. 

glory, or the good of their fellow creatures. 
They often lose that deep sense of dependence 
which should characterize creatures who " live, 
move, and have their being" in God, They 
are in great danger of growing proud and self- 
sufficient, leaning to their own understandings, 
and ascribing their success to their own skill. 
They seldom retain or exercise the love of God 
and spiritual things — wearying out their minds, 
and hearts, and lives, with the love and pursuit 
of the world. They have neither time, nor 
heart, to seek and enjoy God and his grace. 
What they have gained, as they think, by their 
own skill and industry, they feel at liberty to 
expend for their own gratification, in pamper- 
ing " The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
eyes, and the pride of life.'' All these,, in a 
greater or less degree, and with various cir- 
cumstantial modifications, are the natural re- 
sults of the love and pursuit of riches — a pas- 
sion, by the inordinate exercise of which, our 
age and country are so strikingly distinguished, 
and which God has so signally rebuked, by 
the course of his providence. 

1 say, " God has so signally rebuked us," for 
neither truth nor duty will permit us to lose 
sight of Him while looking at second causes — 
for he is The Cause of all causes. Hence it is 
written, '^I form the light, and create dark- 



GOVE TOUSNE S S. 101 

ness: I make peace, and create evil: I, the 
Lord, do all these things.'' He sent us all that 
exuberant prosperity for which we had not the 
grace to be thankful, and which we did not use 
for his glory. Like Jeshurun, we " w^axed fat, 
and kicked." Our well-spread table became a 
snare to us. And if it were true, that our ru- 
lers were never so deeply implicated in the re- 
verses which we have suffered — if they were 
as unwise and bad as their worst enemies have 
represented them to be — yet have they been 
given to us of God, upon our own choice; we, 
being left to choose thein^ and they being left to 
pursue measures, by which God is punishing us 
for this great sin of which we have been guilty. 
The very stroke of God's hand, tells us of the 
nature of the sin for w^hich he is visiting us, for 
he has laid his hand on the very idol which we 
have set up in his place. The extent of the 
visitation indicates, that the sin is a national 
one ; and the weight of the stroke, that the sin 
is grievous. Covetousness is, in the Scrip- 
tures, declared to be, idolatry — and idolatry 
is that abominable thing which the soul of 
the Lord hates. He will no more give his 
glory to it, than he will give it to graven 
images. 

Judge of the evil by the punishment. You 
account it no small evil to see the riches and 



102 LECTURE ly. 

prosperity of such a land as this prostrated — to 
see so many hundreds of thousands, almost 
without employment, and struggling for a bare 
subsistence. Nor have the sufferings of those 
who have been ruined in their circumstances, 
nor of those who have been expecti7ig to have 
the stroke fall upon them, been small. Think 
not lightly, then, of the sin which has caused 
it. This evil has not sprung from the dust. 
It is not a sin of yesterday. It had its birth 
in the first dawn of our prosperity, and has 
been growing with our growth, and strengthen- 
ing with our strength. Nor will it be easily 
eradicated. It has felt the knife before, but 
the wound has not been healed. God has now 
cut down to the bone, but the sore still runs, 
and is in danger of becoming a gangrene, for 
the worshippers of mammon still stand by the 
side of their fallen idols, bedew his image with 
their tears, and long for the time when they 
shall set it in its place, and repair its injuries, 
and gild its face afresh, and fall down and wor- 
ship it. 

Let us then endeavour to think of this evil 
which we are suffering as a divine infliction 
upon us for the ardour with which we have 
loved, and the eagerness with which we pur- 
sued the world. — It was said, as a matter of 
high praise, of the inhabitants of a sister city. 



COVETOUSNESS. 103 

(New York,) when they suffered by that dread- 
ful conflagration, in December, 1835, that their 
spirits were so unbroken by the visitation that 
within a very few days some were engaged in 
re-building, and others advertising their goods, 
as if nothing had happened. To me, in com- 
mon with many others, the language and con- 
duct appeared but little less than heaven-daring 
and impious. It may serve to show that the 
heart is not touched; but whether the heart 
should not feel such a pressing, and bow very 
low before God under it, is quite another ques- 
tion. My hearers, the hand of God was in 
that conflagration, and the hand of God is in 
the losses and suflferings which the American 
people have experienced. And shall they not 
both feel and acknowledge? The calamity 
may be removed, for aught I know, although 
we may feel and act like stoics or brutes under 
it. But sure I am it will never be sanctified. 
Hear God's words on this point — "I will go 
and return unto my place till they acknowledge 
their oflfence, and seek my face*" — " Now, no 
chastening for the present seemeth to be joy- 
ous, but grievous : nevertheless, afterward it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, 
unto them which are exercised thereby." — 
Want of feeling under such a calamity as that 
which we have suflfered, should be as deeply 



104 LECTURE IV. 

deplored as the calamity itself. Then God 
might say of us as he said of ancient Israel : 
" Why should ye be stricken any more ? Ye 
will revolt more and more." 

Let us then acknowledge the divine hand in 
our sufferings, as inflicting chastisement upon 
us for our sins; and let us humble ourselves 
under his mighty hand. This, however, we 
shall scarcely do till we think more of God, 
and less of man in connexion with this sign of 
the times. In this we shall be greatly assisted 
by turning our eyes inward, and examining our 
own hearts on the subject. Are we personally 
innocent concerning this thing? Have we 
never bowed before this idol? Is there ne'er 
a wedge of gold, or Babylonish garment hid- 
den in our tent? Have we not coveted in- 
creasing wealth, and desired rapid accumula- 
tion ? Have we not been pained even to anger, 
at the interruption and reverses which we have 
experienced? Then our calamities have not 
been sanctified, and we are not prepared for 
their removal. If the Lord should remove the 
pressure of his hand, we should go on as we 
did before. And this, I fear, is the case with 
the great body of the American people. They 
seem to me to consider themselves as more 
sinned against than sinning — as having been 
brought into their present state by the blunders 



COVETOUS NESS. 105 

and sins of their fellow creatures — as if the 
retributive providence of God had but little to 
do with it — and as if they were ready to spring 
forward with fresh alacrity and delight in the 
same career, the moment the Lord should take 
off the restraints by which he is now holding 
them in check. If such should be the case, we 
shall soon prepare ourselves for a new and 
sorer visitation, unless it should be prevented 
by a copious effusion of the Holy Spirit. 

Our present state may, with great propriety, 
be considered as critical, if this were the only 
portentous sign of the times, which is by no 
means the case. There is a number of other 
dark shades in the aspects of the divine provi- 
dence towards us, to which your attention, the 
Lord permitting, will hereafter be called. It 
seems as if the dark cloud which we have this 
evening been contemplating, is beginning to 
break — as if the pressure of the Lord's hand 
upon this part of our affairs, would soon be 
lightened. But it also appears as if the visita- 
tion had not been felt, to any great extent, as a 
divine and deserved affliction, humbling us un- 
der the Lord's mighty hand, and causing us to 
be afraid of being led into the same temptation 
again. O, could we but reach the Church of 
God, the stewards of his house, the people 
bought with the blood of the Lamb, with this 
subject at this critical period, and sound in their 



106 LECTURE IV, 

ears the voice of warning and remonstrance, 
" Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." 
" Love not the world, neither the things that are 
in the world. If any man love the world, the 
love of the Father is not in him.'' — " Go thy 
way, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon 
thee." — "Come out from among them, and be ye 
separate." — " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
and his righteousness, and all these things shall 
be added unto you." — "Consider the lillies of the 
field, how they grow : they toil not, neither do 
they spin : and yet I say unto you, that even 
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like 
one of these — Wherefore, if God so clothe the 
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-mor- 
row is cast into the oven, shall he not much 
more clothe you, O ye of little faith." — "Be 
careful for nothing: but in every thing, by 
prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let 
your requests be made known unto God. And 
the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, shall keep your hearts and minds 
through Jesus Christ." 

These are some of the appropriate and sea- 
sonable teachings of the Holy Spirit, from 
which the Church and people of God may 
learn their duty at such a time as this. Re- 
ceiving these instructions, and guiding them- 
selves by these lights, they will be enabled to 
possess their souls in patience, enjoy a sweet 



COVETOUSNESS. 107 

and holy serenity of mind in the darkest sea- 
sons, have the Lord^s deahngs sanctified to 
their good, take cheerfiilly the spoiUng of their 
goods, and edify, by their example, all who be- 
hold them. 

Let us all study, with prayerful attention, this 
sign of the times upon which we have fallen, that 
we may learn from it the Lord's designs, and 
our own duty. These lessons at least, among 
many others, appear to be clearly taught: — 
That God exercises a controlling influence over 
the affairs of men ; that he is the moral Gov- 
ernor of the nation, as well as the individuals 
composing the human family; that he some- 
times, at least, marks the crime by the punish- 
ment which he inflicts, so as to make the con- 
nexion between them manifest ; that we cannot 
rely upon any earthly good for comfort and 
safety ; that the love and pursuit of every ob- 
ject which fills the heart, and occupies the hfe, 
to the neglect of God and the concerns of the 
soul, are sinful, displeasing to God, and danger- 
ous to us ; that the highest degree of worldly 
prosperity does not prove the favour of God, 
or the good estate of men ; that, notwithstand- 
ing the many blessings which we, as a nation, 
enjoy, there are plain proofs, in the providence 
of God, that he is visiting us for a sin which is 
peculiarly hateful to him — the inordinate love 
of riches ; and, that our interest and duty are 



108 LECTURE IV. COVETOUSNESS. 

equally concerned in immediate repentance for 
this crying national sin, and a thorough refor- 
mation of our manners with respect to it, if we 
would improve the existing crisis in our affairs, 
and escape the judgments which are hanging 
over us. 

I now leave this weighty concern for the 
prayerful consideration of my hearers, under a 
deep conviction of its intrinsic importance, and 
their individual interest in it. No Christian 
can think lightly of it, and no sinner should. 
May the Spirit pour it upon our minds with 
divine light, and give it, in our hearts, an in- 
terest equal to its importance! 

There are still other aspects of the provi- 
dence of God towards our beloved country, 
which it nearly concerns us to understand, and 
which may be studied with interest and profit. 
If it shall please the Lord to spare us to the 
commencement of another month, and afford the 
necessary aid, some of these will be presented 
for consideration. In the mean time, "May 
the God of peace, that brought again from the 
dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of 
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting 
covenant, make you perfect in every good 
work to do his will, working in you that which 
is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus 
Christ : to whom be glory for ever and ever." 



LECTURE V. 

REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 

CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

The fourth sign of the times, to which your 
attention was directed, was, "The aspect of 
Divine Providence with respect to the monied 
concerns of our country." I endeavoured to 
show, that the deahngs of God towards us had 
been very benign and gracious, in assigning us 
so extensive and fruitful a country ; in the time 
of its settlement; the state and character of 
its first settlers; the time, and results, of our 
revolutionary struggle ; the time when our in- 
stitutions, civil and religious, were settled ; the 
peculiar character of those institutions; the 
state of Europe as connected with the French 
Revolution ; the influence of this state upon the 
business and wealth of our country, in con- 
nexion with its agriculture, commerce, and 
manufactures; the long and unhallowed ca- 
reer of our prosperity, manifested by the widely 
extended settlement and improvement of the 

10 



110 LECTURE V. 

country, the facilities for intercommunication, 
and the amazing increase of wealth ; the effect 
of all these upon the people, with respect to in- 
dustry, enterprise, and the desire of rapid ac- 
cumulation; the sudden and unexpected re- 
verse which succeeded ; the agency of God in 
it, and the probable reason for it; together, 
with some of the lessons of practical wisdom, 
which we may, and should derive from it. 
This, it is thought, is one of the signs which 
God is hanging out from his high heavens, to 
be observed, and studied, and improved, by the 
inhabitants of this land, for their good — one of 
the voices by which he reproves us for a cry- 
ing national sin. The next sign of the times, 
and to which I propose to call your attention 
this evening, is of more immediate concern to 
the people of God, because it bears more di- 
rectly upon the welfare of his Church, which 
must be dearer to every real Christian than the 
apple of his eye. Whatever concerns her, 
concerns him also. " If I forget thee, let my 
right hand forget her cunning." Our subject 
is, " Revivals of religion." 

V. This will now be considered as the fifth 
sign of the times in which we live; and certainly 
not the least remarkable or important of them. 

Strictly speaking, " a revival of religion" is, 
an increasing feeling and interest experienced 



REVIVALS. Ill 

by Christians for the glory of God, and the 
good of souls, manifesting itself by increased 
diligence and zeal in the divine service; 
stronger efforts after growth in grace and 
knowledge, connected with a keen reHsh for 
divine things, so as to take greater pleasure in 
them than in all things else. In the ordinary 
acceptation of the terms, however, we include 
in it one of its almost invariable fruits or con- 
comitants — its effects on sinners. When the 
people of God walk together in the fear of the 
Lord, and the comfort of the Holy Ghost, it 
rarely happens that their number, as well as 
graces, are not increased. (See Acts ix. 31.) 
Hence, whenever Christians are warmed and 
animated in the service of God, it rarely 
happens, that sinners are not converted. 
When we speak of a revival, in this more 
general sense, we include in it, the conviction 
and conversion of sinners in greater numbers 
than is common under ordinary circumstances. 
Perhaps the best term we can use, to express 
the whole subject, is, " a revival of God's 
work," as that will include the whole work, as, 
both saints and sinners are affected by it. Nor 
do I know w^hat reasonable objection can be 
made to its use in this sense. At all events, 
this is the sense in which the phrase, "Re- 



112 



LECTURE V. 



vival of religion," is now generally under- 
stood. 

The present has been called, "The age of 
revivals," and there is a sense in v^hich it has 
been rightly so denominated. Perhaps there 
never has been an age, when revivals have 
been more numerous and extensive than within 
the memory of those now living. If, however, 
we should infer, that extensive and glorious re- 
vivals have not occurred in other ages than the 
present, and in other countries than our own, 
we should be egregiously mistaken. And yet, 
language is frequently used on the subject 
which would lead to such mistakes. 

The fact is, there have been few periods of 
much extent in which the Church of God has 
not enjoyed seasons of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord. I do not except Old 
Testament times. To such a season, I sup- 
pose, the sacred writer alludes, when, in speak- 
ing of the birth of Enos in the fifth chapter of 
Genesis, he says, "Then began men to call 
upon the name of the Lord." This seems to 
me to indicate some increased attention to the 
ordinances of religion, connected with uncom- 
mon interest and feeling. Nor is there reason 
to doubt that a divine blessing attended the 
closing instructions with which Moses devolved 
the government of Israel upon Joshua shortly 



REVIVALS. 113 

before his death, the good effects of which ac- 
companied that man of God through his whole 
administration. This is probably the reason 
why we hear nothing of their murmurings and 
rebellions while engaged in driving out the na- 
tions of Canaan, and taking possession of the 
land which God had given them for an inheri- 
tance. It also appears highly probable that 
the solemnities with which Joshua closed his 
ministry and life were attended with a blessing, 
the happy influence of which was long felt. 
The proof is found in this record in the second 
chapter of the book of Judges — " And the peo- 
ple served the Lord all the days of Joshua., 
and all the days of the Elders that outlived 
Joshua, who had seen all the great works of 
the Lord, that he did for Israel. And there 
arose another generation after them, which 
knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which 
he had done for Israel. And the children of 
Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.'' The 
extremes of these periods is about fifty years. 
The revivals were general, embracing the na- 
tion ; their influence was felt for half a century, 
and many thousands, it may be hundreds of 
thousands, experienced the benefits of them. 

Many other instances occur in the book of 
Judges. The children of Israel are represent- 
ed as having been frequently delivered into the 

10* 



114 L E C TU R E V. 

hands of their enemies, because " they did evil 
in the sight of the Lord." And then we have 
such records as these — "And when the chil- 
dren of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord 
raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, 
who delivered them. And the land had rest." 
These brief records indicate seasons of great 
humiliation, fervent prayer, reformation of 
manners, and a return of the divine favour. 
And what are all these, under the circum- 
stances of the case, but a revival of religion, 
more or less pure and extensive? You may 
read an account of similar seasons in the his- 
tory of Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah, kings 
of Judah, in the thirty-second, thirty-third, and 
thirty-fourth chapter of second Chronicles. 

Nor has the Church been destitute of sea- 
sons of revival during the Christian dispensa- 
tion from the beginning. What name shall we 
give to what occurred at Jerusalem on the 
Pentecost, when three thousand were converted 
to God in one day ? What must have occur- 
red intermediately, when we are told soon after 
that the number of them that believed was five 
thousand? Was it not a revival of religion 
which caused Peter and John to pay that visit 
to Samaria, of which we have an account in 
the eighth chapter of Acts ? To what state of 
rehgion does the record in the ninth chapter of 



REVIVALS. 115 

the Acts refer ? " Then had the churches rest 
throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, 
and were edified ; and, walking in the fear of 
the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy 
Ghost, were multiplied." Was it any thing but 
pure, blessed, and glorious revivals of religion 
which planted large and flourishing churches 
at Rome, Antioch, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, 
Thessalonica, Smyrna, Pergamos, Laodicea, 
Thyatira, Philadelphia, and a large number of 
other places in every part of the Roman Em- 
pire, long before the close of the first century ? 
I will not refer you to the uncertain records 
of the dark ages, for further examples, although 
much might be gleaned even from this com- 
paratively barren field. But to come down to 
the sixteenth century, the period of the Refor- 
mation. At the commencement of that period, 
the great body of the Christian Church lay fast 
asleep in the arms of Roman Catholicism. Its 
characteristics were, ignorance, superstition, 
idolatry, and profligacy. A religious influence, 
as extensive and salutary, had not been expe- 
rienced since the first century, as that which 
occurred in the sixteenth. The fruit of it was 
the emancipation of England, Scotland, the 
seven united provinces of the Netherlands, one 
half of Switzerland, Saxony, and other con- 
siderable portions of Germany. While no- 



116 LECTURE V. 

thing but the strong arm of secular power, 
and a spirit of persecution, which rioted in 
blood, arrested the progress of the Reforma- 
tion in France, Spain, and Italy, and kept such 
large portions of Europe under Papal domina- 
tion. The aggregate of all this was denomi- 
nated, " The Reformation." The detail might 
with propriety be called, " Revivals of religion 
in some scores of thousands of congregations." 
The present century, loud as its boastings are, 
furnishes no parallel. 

But perhaps it may be supposed that no re- 
vivals occurred from the Reformation till the 
commencement of the period which we have so 
complacently called, "The age of revivals." 
Nor is this correct. The former part of the 
seventeenth century witnessed remarkable out- 
pourings of the Holy Spirit, both in Scotland 
and Ireland, which have not been exceeded 
since the day of Pentecost. For instance — a 
single sermon preached in the Church yard of 
Shotts, in Scotland, on Monday the 21st day of 
June, 1630, by John Livingston, the lineal an- 
cestor of the numerous and respectable family 
of that name in this country, was blessed to 
the conversion of five hundred souls. Another 
sermon of his, preached on a similar occasion 
at Holywood, in Ireland, God was pleased to 
own to the conversion of a thousand souls. 



REVIVALS. 117 

We have no reason to believe that these were 
insulated seasons in either of those countries. 
Nor was England during the seventeenth cen- 
tury, the age of Baxter, Owen, Howe, Bates, 
and a host of other worthies, without its seasons 
of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. 
Take Kidderminster, the parish of Richard 
Baxter, as an example. When he came to the 
place, he says, there was about one family in a 
street that worshipped God, and called on his 
name — and before he left, instances of neglect 
were very rare. Of six hundred communicants, 
he stood in doubt of only about a dozen. Per- 
haps the ministry of no pastor was more 
blessed in a given place. And this was the 
case with many of his cotemporaries, although 
they lived in exceedingly troublous times. 

It was my wish and design, at this point, to 
have taken a brief view of the state of reli- 
gion in England and this country during a part 
of the last century. But time will not permit. 
Sometime before the middle of that period God 
had gathered together, at the University of Ox- 
ford, in England, a company of young men of 
fervent piety who were associated for mutual 
improvement in the things of rehgion. Of this 
number were John and Charles Wesley, and 
George Whitefield, subsequently well known, 
both in Europe and America, as the friends and 



118 LE CTUR E V. 

promoters of vital godliness ; one of them the 
founder of that numerous and respectable sect, 
called Methodists, and another honoured of 
God as the instrument employed to diffuse a 
new spirit into existing denominations. Ex- 
tensive revivals of religion followed their la- 
bours on both sides of the Atlantic. In this 
country Whitefield met a hearty co-operation 
in the Tennants and others in the Presbyterian 
Church, and Edwards, and many others of the 
fathers of New England — and a glorious scene 
of revival ensued, which pervaded almost every 
part of our land. It was, however, greatly 
marred by the errors and excesses of Daven- 
port and others, whose mistakes and follies 
made the very name of a revival odious for 
many years. The influences of the Spirit 
were consequently withdrawn for many years, 
so that we scarcely hear of a revival again till 
after the revolutionary war. Of what then 
occurred I shall hereafter speak. Enough has, 
I think, been said to show that revivals are not 
as great novelties as some have believed and 
others imagined. So that if it be admitted that 
it is proper to call the present, especially with 
reference to our own country, " The age of 
revivals," it is necessary that we do so with 
some hmitations and explanations, or we shall 
be apt to leave a wrong impression on the 



REVIVALS. 119 

mind. From what has taken place in this age 
and country, we have no right to disparage 
what God has done in other ages and coun- 
tries. To do this would be very like blas- 
pheming the Holy Ghost. 

To come, then, to modern times. It is a 
fact, that, not long after the revolutionary war, 
revivals began to occur again ; and, towards 
the close of the last century, and the beginning 
of the present, they were more frequent than 
they had been for a long time before. In 
many instances, they were deep, powerful, and 
extensive, and their effects were permanently 
good. They were, generally, connected with 
plain, pungent, and affectionate exhibitions of 
the whole counsel of God, followed by deep 
convictions of sin, of heart and nature, as well 
as hfe, and a believing reception and appropri- 
ation of Christ, as " made to us of God, wis- 
dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- 
tion," through the renewing and sanctifying 
power of the Holy Spirit. The effect, ordina- 
rily, was, great self-abasement, humiliation, 
and perseverance in holy living. The churches 
had peace, and their members walked together 
in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of 
the Holy Ghost. Defections were few, and the 
exercise of discipline was seldom necessary. 
Novelties, in faith or practice, rarely occurred. 



120 LECTURE V. 

There were, however, some few exceptions. 
In some parts of this State, in some of the 
Western States, and, in a few instances, else- 
where, singular cases of bodily-exercise occur- 
red ; first, probably, in the case of persons of 
feeble or diseased nerves, and afterwards com- 
municated to others by sympathy. This was of 
evil influence. Then followed a seeming want 
of more labourers in the vineyard, which gave 
rise to the introduction of imperfectly educated 
and unqualified men into the ministry, with 
which, was probably connected departures 
from sound doctrine. From this sprung the 
Cumberland Presbyterians, who, for several 
years, troubled the Presbyterian Church. But, 
notwithstanding these drawbacks, the work 
went on, and great good was done. 

'Till about the year 1820, few changes took 
place, excepting the introduction of what has 
been called, " The anxious-seats," and the em« 
ployment of a few evangelists. The anxious- 
seat was originally used, to save the pastor the 
labour of calling upon the many who were 
exercised; and the employment of evangelists 
was designed to assist the pastors, who were 
borne down with the multiplicity of their ardu- 
ous labours. About this time, commenced 
what has been called, " The conference of 
the churches." This practice obtained princi- 



REVIVALS. 121 

pally in New England, and consisted in the 
appointment of a few influential and gifted lay- 
men, to visit neighbouring churches, caUing the 
people together, and spending a day or two 
with them in exhortation and prayer, labouring 
to reconcile existing difl[iculties, and calling 
upon churches to make public confession of 
their sins, and covenant anew to serve the 
Lord. From these exercises pastors were so 
far excluded as not to be expected to take an 
active part in them, even in their own 
churches. This was the first serious inroad 
made on the character and influence of the 
pastoral office. 

The influence of this new measure was, in 
the first instance, very considerable, and, per- 
haps, some good was accomplished. But, like 
all merely human devices, it ceased to have 
much effect when its novelty was worn oflf. 
When this was perceived to be the case, it 
was abandoned. About the same time, a dis- 
tinction began to be made between ministers, 
as favourable or unfavourable to revivals. If 
the name of a minister was not known to one 
of the parties, the question would be immedi- 
ately asked, "Is he a revival-man?" And the 
meaning would be, not, is he a godly man, who 
loves God, and the souls of men, and labours 

diligently for the promotion of the divine 

11 



122 LECTURE V. 

glory, and the salvation of souls, but, does he 
approve of the newest measures, and work ac- 
cording to the newest rules ? If not, though 
he were pouring his whole heart into his work, 
and God were blessing his labours in the most 
abundant manner, he would not be recognised 
as, " a revival-man," but, stigmatized as, " cold- 
hearted, and inefficient." I have, myself, heard 
them so called, again and again. 

When the conference of the churches had 
served its turn, it was succeeded by what has 
been technically called, " protracted meetings." 
Such meetings have been extensively held 
throughout our land, and, especially, in the 
Presbyterian Church. I think, they did not be- 
come general till about the year 1827, or '28. 
Previously to this period, if an interesting state 
of religious feeling existed in an extensive con- 
gregation, meetings were necessarily increased ; 
and, if the pastor were unable to bear the in- 
creased labour, neighbouring brethren were 
called in to assist him. This, however, is not 
what is meant by " protracted meetings." 
These are meetings, which have been ap- 
pointed frequently, if not generally, when reli- 
gion appeared to be in a low or declining state, 
with a view to wake up Christians, and excite 
the attention of sinners, to the subject of their 
salvation; or, as it has been expressed, "To 



REVIVALS. 123 

get up a revival." They have generally been 
conducted by evangelists, or, by a number of 
ministers, called from greater or less distances, 
who were supposed to be peculiarly skilful in 
conducting such operations, or whose minis- 
trations were calculated to produce the most 
striking effects : in other words, " revival-men." 
Other men, whatever their gifts or qualifica- 
tions might be, would rarely be invited. 

These meetings have lasted, from three to 
four days. Pastors have, generally, taken very 
little part in the exercises in their own congre- 
gations, and had very little to do with the di- 
rection of affairs. The exercises have con- 
sisted, of one or two sermons a day, with one 
or two meetings for exhortation and prayer; 
and, when the state of feeling would warrant 
it, the anxious-seat. The object of this seat 
is, to bring those whose minds are affected to 
give a pubhc indication of their purpose to be- 
come rehgious, and then, by exhortation and 
prayer, to bring them to "submit," as it is 
called, in which, it is supposed, their conver- 
sion consists. The character of the preaching 
on these occasions has, generally, been of an 
exciting kind : sometimes, by holding up some 
important truth before the mind in a striking 
light, till it has absorbed the attention, and ex- 
cited the imagination, and prepared the subject 



124 LECTURE V. 

sternly to adopt the preacher's desire, by form- 
ing the resolution to submit to God, supposing 
that the great work is then done, although they 
have never been convinced of the evil of sin^ 
or felt the plagues of their own hearts, or their 
need of being "Washed, and sanctified, and 
justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and 
by the Spirit of our God,'' or, having had a sin- 
gle view of Christ, as crucified and slain for 
their redemption. Sometimes, strong appeals 
have been made to the passions; and some- 
times, they have been urged on to the duty of 
submission, in connexion with their ability to 
perform it, till it has been supposed to be one 
of the easiest things imaginable; and, some- 
times, the preacher has assumed the divine 
omniscience, and declared, authoritatively, that 
unless the hearer should submit to God before 
he should leave his seat, he would lose his 
soul. The speaker has witnessed such things. 
Generally speaking, very little gospel in- 
struction has been given at such meetings, and 
the distinguishing doctrines of the Christian 
system have been studiously kept out of view, 
as not calculated to promote the work. For 
instance: You would hear very little, if any 
thing, of our sinful condition by nature; the 
nature and necessity of regeneration, by the 
supernatural influences of the Holy Spirit ; the 



REVIVALS. 125 

doings and sufferings of Christ; justification 
by faith, through the imputed righteousness of 
Christ, as the ground of our acceptance with 
God ; the nature of the divine law and govern- 
ment ; the importance of self-examination ; the 
evidences of a gracious state , and, the nature 
and character of the Christian life. These 
subjects have often been laughed at, as anti- 
quated follies, or avoided, as injurious to revi- 
vals of religion. 

I do not mean, that this has been the case 
at all protracted meetings. Many of them 
have been conducted with propriety ; and the 
truth, as it is in Jesus, has been preached at 
them. But the other course, with various 
modifications, has had a considerably wide cir- 
culation. In many instances, such measures, 
and preaching, have been forced upon congre- 
gations, and suffered against the better judg- 
ment and wishes of pastors, and, perhaps, a 
large portion of their congregations, through the 
influence of a few fanatical spirits, in the hope 
of being able to control the course of events, 
gratify these spirits, and yet save the Church 
from material injury. This, however, has 
rarely been the case. Time, however, does 
not permit me to dwell on this part of the 
subject. I proceed to inquire as to results. 

What eflfects, then, have resulted from these 

11* 



126 LECTUREV. 

things ? It is undeniable, that these have been 
neither few nor small, and, if we had an accu- 
rate and detailed account of them, it would 
furnish an interesting and useful study to the 
philosopher and the Christian, and, especially, 
the Christian minister. It might, for instance, 
be expected, that where such long-extended 
and mighty efforts had been made ; such im- 
portant and exciting topics had been discussed, 
and enforced with so much talent, skill, zeal, 
frequency and perseverance, that the hearers 
have had such a direct, acknowledged, and 
deep interest in them — and that scenes of 
thrilling interest have frequently been exhibited, 
which were calculated to call into exercise the 
deepest sympathies of our nature, that many 
and important results would flow from them. 
Such, accordingly, has been the fact. Thou- 
sands and tens of thousands of souls, in vari- 
ous parts of our land, have been deeply and 
seriously affected by them. Nor have I a 
doubt, that many have been happily and sav- 
ingly affected by them. But, whether enough 
of good, has been done to compensate for a 
train of evils, many of which have grown 
spontaneously, and almost necessarily, out of 
the measures which have been pursued j and, 
whether the good might not have been ob- 
tained, and most of the evils have been 
avoided, by a different course, are questions 



REVIVALS. 127 

which are worthy of grave and serious con- 
sideration. At all events, it is very certain, 
that these measures, like all mere human in- 
ventions, have been producing, constantly, less 
and less effect, and have laid them under the 
necessity of inventing others, or, of falling 
back upon those which God has appointed and 
approved. What then, you ask, are the evils 
to which I allude ? 

They have been of evil influence, with re- 
spect to the stated and ordinary ministrations 
of the Gospel ; an ordinance, which God has 
appointed, in perpetuity, for the edification of 
the body of Christ, and the conviction and con- 
version of sinners. After a protracted meet- 
ing, of the most approved stamp, the ordinary 
ministrations of the sanctuary have, for a 
length of time, had very httle, if any eflfect, 
either on saint or sinner. The agitated wa- 
ters subside into a dead calm. The people of 
God sink down into a dull, cold apathy, as if it 
were not their duty to feel or act ; and sinners, 
would seem to think it almost a sin to be con- 
verted at such a time. They sit down, and 
fold their hands to sleep, as if they had no 
souls to save or lose, till one of these seasons 
of extra eflfort and excitement returns. From 
this it has resulted, that few have been re- 
ceived into the churches, excepting at such pe- 



128 LECTURE V. 

riods. It has been, either a feast or a famine. 
Daily bread has been loathed and despised, as 
well nigh useless. Even those churches which 
have cordially disapproved of the whole course 
of things, have been deeply affected by it. In 
many of the Presbyterian churches, the period 
for the return of the paroxysm has been, when 
the season for the annual meeting of the Gene- 
ral Assembly has been drawing near. When 
it has been perceived, upon review, that little 
has been accomplished since its last meeting, 
and that, a meager account must be given, if 
something be not immediately done ; the pro- 
tracted meeting is called; notice is given, as ex- 
tensively as possible; preparation is made; the 
proper coadjutors are procured ; expectation is 
raised; the work is commenced; in the course 
of a week or two, fifty or a hundred are gath- 
ered into the Church; the thing is gazetted 
throughout the land ; a report is made, in due 
form, to the General Assembly : a great calm 
ensues, so that the lecture-room and prayer 
meeting are forsaken, and it would require an 
earthquake to wake the Church up again be- 
fore the usual time. Do not many of you 
know this to be, substantially, correct? Why, 
even our sober brethren of the Episcopal 
Church, have felt the effect, and complain, that 
their accessions to the Church are principally 



REVIVALS. 129 

confined to the season of Lent, during which 
they have almost daily public exercises. There 
must be something wrong, when God's institu- 
tions are thus undervalued and powerless, and, 
when we substitute, what, in the very nature of 
the case, must be special, for God's stated ap- 
pointment, and rely upon our own inventions, 
instead of his ordinances. 

But this is not all. This state of things has 
been of most pernicious influence w4th respect 
to the pastoral office. This is an office of di- 
vine institution, and designed by the great 
Head of the Church to be perpetual. In the 
settled state of the Church, the whole work of 
the ministry, both as it respects ingathering 
and edification, has been committed by Christ 
to the pastor. But in the state of things of 
which I am speaking, the pastor has been 
made a mere cypher, on the WTong side of 
unity. In these protracted meetings, the 
whole work is thrown into the hands of the 
Evangelist, or the brethren who are called in, 
as the case may be. The pastor may indeed 
be seen^ but he is not heard or felt. These 
men come prepared with a fcAV^ sermons calcu- 
lated to produce an immediate eflfect, such as 
no pastor can statedly prepare for his people, 
and which he should not preach in continuance 
if he could, for they would starve their souls ; 



130 LECTURE V. 

and when the excitement begins to subside, as 
subside it will, these men retire, and leave all 
the difficulties and trials of the re-action to 
him. Well, what are the consequences? 
Why, he cannot revive the dying excitement. 
He cannot minister satisfactorily to the vitia- 
ted tastes, and morbid sensibilities of his hear- 
ers. He has lost the little influence which he 
once exercised. He grows discouraged with 
the hopelessness of future usefulness, and de- 
sires to fly from the scene. And if he did not, 
bis hearers desire his removal. They lay every 
difficulty at his door. They suppose if they 
had one of those men that had laboured 
among them with so much interest and suc- 
cess, they would have a revival all the time. 
And the next you hear, he is gone. This evil 
influence has well nigh destroyed the pastoral 
office, with all its hallowed influences, in some 
parts of the Church, and weakened it every 
where. And if it is suffered to go on, it will 
make revivals a by-word and a loathing, and 
go far to destroy the Church itself. Surely 
these things ought not to be. Surely, those 
who love and pray for the peace and pros- 
perity of Zion, should wake up, and see to 
it. If any one desires to be informed on the 
subject, let him examine the statistics of our 
Church, and he will be equally astonished and 



REVIVALS. 131 

grieved to find what a multitude of her minis- 
try are either without charges, or acting as 
stated supphes. I have myself known a Pres- 
bytery consisting of nineteen ministers, only 
three of whom were pastors. No small por- 
tion of this evil has arisen from the employ- 
ment of Evangelists, protracted meetings, and 
the character of modern revivals. A genuine 
revival of religion has always served to unite 
the pastor, if he were a good man, more 
closely to his people, and greatly to increase his 
usefulness. The revivals of later years have 
had a directly contrary effect. Verily there is 
something utterly wrong in all this. 

This state of things has had a great and 
unhappy effect on the character of gospel 
ministrations. It seems to be at war with al- 
most all the distinguishing doctrines of our 
holy religion. These may not be preached in 
connexion with revivals, because they are sup- 
posed to have a bad influence on them. Du- 
ring such seasons it w^ould be treason to s|)eak 
of original sin, the atonement as the only 
ground of our hope of acceptance with God, 
justification by faith, through the imputed 
righteousness of Christ, the necessity of re- 
generation by the supernatural influences of the 
Holy Spirit, or any thing else which distin- 
guishes the gospel from all other systems ; for 



132 LECTURE V. 

fear that men should forget their accountabiUty, 
or be unwiUing to exert themselves, unless they 
possessed every kind of abiUty necessary to save 
their own souls. The consequence of all this has 
been, that men have imbibed a distaste for doc- 
trinal preaching, and ultimately for the doc- 
trines themselves, so as to become unwilling to 
hear them at all, or even to believe them. 
They have reasoned on this wise — " If these 
doctrines are inimical to revivals, they cannot 
be very important, even if true, and probably 
are not true in the sense w^e have heretofore 
supposed." If the first proposition be true, 
the argument is sound, and the conclusion irre- 
sistible. This, I have no doubt, is one of the 
fruitful sources of those errors with which the 
Presbyterian Church has been flooded, distract- 
ed, and well nigh ruined. The devil has no 
better time to sow his tares by handfulls than 
when the watchmen are absorbed in revivals ; 
and he knows it well — and if he can get them 
to do his work, he is all the better pleased. It 
does, however, seem strange to me how it ever 
entered into the minds of men, that the doc- 
trines of the Scriptures should be opposed to 
the best interests of the kingdom of Christ. 
Either the Holy Spirit has committed a strange 
mistake on the subject, or men must be essen- 
tially wrong about this thing. It would be 



REVIVALS. 133 

wonderful if those truths which he at the foun- 
dation of the whole system, should be injuri- 
ous to its interests, and be unnecessarv to be 
known and understood by. us ! 

These revivals have had an unhappy influ- 
ence on the state of religion and the welfare of 
souls, as connected with hasty admission to the 
communion of the Church. This practice has 
been very general. Communion seasons have 
immediately succeeded protracted meetings. I 
have known an instance where, during the last 
ten days of a meeting of five weeks continu- 
ance, three communion seasons were held, 
two hundred and ten were admitted to the 
Church — in four months the pastor was dis- 
missed, and within eighteen months their house 
of worship was sold, and the Church itself 
was broken up. If one hundred of its three 
hundred members can now be found decently 
professing godliness, I am utterly mistaken. 
These hasty admissions aflford the subjects no 
time to test the nature of their exercises, or to 
examine the state of their hearts ; and it is no 
wonder if the churches get filled with unsound 
members, or if they fall oflf like leaves in au- 
tumn. The reasons assigned for such admis- 
sions is, they will lose their impressions, and 
never make a profession. This may be very 
true. But what a commentary is it on the na- 

12 



134 LECTURE y, 

ture of the revival, and indeed on the whole 
system? If the work were genuine there 
would be no danger in waiting. The bread 
cast upon the waters would be found again 
after many days. If the Church were not im- 
mortal under its Head, the errors, and folhes, 
and wickedness of men would have destroyed 
it long ago. 

Finally. The Christian character, formed 
by such means, even where a real conversion 
takes place, is so defective, as to make the 
measures themselves of questionable propriety. 
I will only notice a very few. They have 
been found, in uncommon numbers, destitute of 
that meekness, gentleness, and humihty, which 
so strikingly characterized the blessed Saviour, 
and which are so becoming and lovely in 
young converts. These, on the contrary, ap- 
pear to have been born of full age and growth, 
and to speak with as much confidence of 
Christian duty and experience as if they had 
been thoroughly trained and disciplined in the 
divine life; and, to rush into the Christian war- 
fare with as much boldness, as if they had 
proved their armour, and gained many an easy 
victory; and, to reprove veterans of the cross, of 
forty years standing, as cold, idle, and inefficient, 
as if they, themselves, had a commission from 
Heaven to exercise such authority over God's 



REVIVALS. 135 

heritage. They are frequently found impatient 
of restraint, and unwilling to submit to the au- 
thority necessary to make God's house a 
house of order. And with all these, there is 
often connected, not only a lamentable igno- 
rance of the doctrines of the Gospel, but a 
great distaste for, and disbelief of them, by 
w^hich, a continued ignorance of them is in- 
sured in all time to come. Men will never 
study, with interest and success, those subjects 
to which they have an aversion. Such a state 
of things can never exist without great loss to 
the soul, for the character is formed by the 
knowledge and influence of the doctrines of 
religion on the heart. These constitute the 
bones and muscles of the new creature. And, 
where the knowledge and love of the doctrines 
is absent, an imperfect character will be in- 
duced, which will lack some of the most im- 
portant and lovely traits which adorn the 
Christian when the conformation of the new 
man is fully developed. Hence, many of those, 
of w^hom I am speaking, are deficient in that 
symmetry which is so lovely in the v^ell-formed 
Christian. While these are particularly defec- 
tive, with respect to the meekness, gentleness, 
and humility, by w^hich the Saviour was so de- 
lightfully distinguished, they are no less defi- 
cient in that firmness^ which makes its pos- 



136 LECTURE V, REVIVALS. 

sessor "steadfast, unmovable, always abound- 
ing in the work of the Lord." For the want 
of this, so many of the present day are, "ever 
learning, and never coming to the knowledge 
of the truth," and are so blown about by every 
wind of doctrine, that you can never know 
whither the next breeze may carry them, or 
upon what desolate coast they may make ship- 
wreck of their faith, and their souls. Need 
we, then, wonder at the prevalence and influ- 
ence of error? 

These are some of the reasons, w^hy we ob- 
ject to the inventions of men in conducting the 
work of the Lord, and why we earnestly desire 
to see the Church return to the good old ways. 
God has never defied his blessing to his own 
truth, and the labour of his own servants, who 
have received the Word at his mouth, and re- 
lied upon the influence of his Spirit to give it 
eflfect. Nor will he now. "Wait on the Lord, 
and he will bring it to pass." The Church will 
then soon cease to be like a forest, through 
which a devouring fire has passed, consuming 
every thing which had life in it; and become 
again, " Fruitful as Lebanon, beautiful as Tir- 
zah, comely as Jerusalem, and terrible as an 
army with banners." May the Lord hasten it 
in its season ! 



i 



LECTURE VI. 

CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

The last particuL r, to which your attention 
was directed, was, " Revivals of religion." Af- 
ter explaining their nature and importance, it 
was observed, that they were not novelties in 
the history of God's Church, having been ex- 
perienced in almost every age and country 
where the Church has had a visible form, both 
under the Old and New Testament dispensa- 
tions. A number of facts were detailed, and 
remarks made, with respect to the great revi- 
val, which commenced a little before the mid- 
dle of the last century, and in w^hich. White- 
field and the Wesleys were prominent actors ; 
and the reason assigned, w^hy that glorious 
work was brought suddenly and unexpectedly 
to a close, shortly before the Revolutionary 
war. 

We then passed on to a brief review of the 
revivals which occurred after that period, to- 

12* 



138 LECTURE VI. 

wards the close of the last century, and the com- 
mencement of the present, up to about the year 
1820, during which time, revivals, with com- 
paratively few exceptions, continued to be pure 
and salutary. Then, began the employment 
of evangelists, out of which grew protracted 
meetings, anxious-seats, new tests of conver- 
sion, together with speedy and premature ad- 
missions to the Church, It has also appeared, 
that, if much good resulted from such a course 
of measures, that much and great, if not ne- 
cessary evil, has followed in their train; such 
as, scanty and imperfect exhibitions of truth; 
a distaste for the ordinary ministrations of the 
Gospel ; a lack of edification under them ; long 
seasons of coldness and inactivity; the de- 
struction of the influence which the pastor 
should exercise; the frequent disruptions of 
the pastoral relation; a distaste for the doc- 
trines of the Gospel, often followed by their 
abandonment or corruption ; and, that the cha- 
racters thus formed, are lamentably defective, 
lacking many of the characteristics which 
should distinguish the child of God ; and par- 
ticularly deficient in the meekness, gentleness, 
and lowliness, which were so beautifully exem- 
plified in the Master, and which are so emi- 
nently lovely in the young convert, nor less de- 
ficient in that firmness, which is " steadfast, un- 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 139 

movable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord.'' And, finally, it was shown, that these 
defective characteristics, which have distin- 
guished revivals within the last twenty years, 
are not necessary to them, and ought to be 
avoided. If, from that discussion, the impres- 
sion has been produced, in any mind, that the 
speaker is unfriendly to revivals of religion, 
and that he does not ardently desire to see 
their prevalence — to witness them in his own 
charge, where a season of refreshing from the 
the presence of the Lord is so much needed — 
and enjoy them in his own soul, he begs, that 
such impression may be at once dismissed. 
If these were not his views and feelings, he 
would be both ungrateful and traiterous to his 
gracious Lord. He has not forgotten, nor can 
he ever forget, the blessed seasons he has wit- 
nessed and enjoyed in another part of the vine- 
yard, in days, the recollection of which will al- 
ways be pleasant. Nor does he live without 
the hope, that, ere the Master will call him to 
lay his hoary head on its last pillow, he will 
will give him to see, and enjoy with this flock, 
a season of refreshing from the presence of 
the Lord, which will make this hill of Zion 
beautiful as Tirzah, and fruitful as Eden. Nor 
does he look forward to it as at a great dis- 
tance. " Brethren, pray for us, that the word 



140 LECTURE VK 

of the Lord may have free course, and be glo- 
rified.'' This train of thought, the Lord wil- 
ling, will be pursued on some other occasion* 
At present, and as connected with the 

VL Sign of the times in which we live, 
I will direct your attention to several things in 
the state of the Church which very seriously 
affect her welfare. 

1. The first particular which I deem it of 
importance to call tip in this connexion^ is the 
corruption of the doctrines of our holy religion. 

Doctrines are the fundamental principles or 
positions of any sect or master, by which their 
systems or instructions are distinguished. The 
doctrines of the Bible are the first principles, 
or the fundamental truths, of the religion which 
the Bible teaches. They must, therefore lie at 
the foundation of the system which the Bible 
inculcates. They make the Christian religion 
to be what it is. They distinguish it from all 
others. If therefore, you abstract the doc- 
trines, you lose the system. It is no longer the 
religion of Christ. It is something else. " The 
Scriptures, (says one,) present us with a copi- 
ous fund of Evangelical truth, which, though it 
has not the form of a regular system, yet its 
parts are such, that, when united, make the 
most complete body of doctrine that we can 
possibly have." If it be true that the doc- 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 141 

trines of a system make it to be what it is, as 
for instance, the doctrines of the Bible make 
up the system of its reUgion, then must the 
doctrines be of essential importance. No man 
can be said to understand the religion of Christ 
any further than he understands the doctrines 
or truths of which it is composed, and w^hich 
make it to be what it is. If this position be 
correct, then it is reasonably to be inferred, that 
God has made such a revelation of truth or 
doctrine in the Bible, as may serve to make a 
man wise unto salvation, and has made it intel- 
ligible, or so as to be understood by those who 
will bestow a proper degree of attention upon 
it. That this supposition is a fact, is capable 
of being proved to a demonstration. Nor are 
the doctrines of the Bible, useless with respect 
to practice. For instance: — The doctrine of 
God's sovereignty is calculated to excite sub- 
mission — his power and justice to promote 
fear — his hohness, humility, and purity — his 
goodness and grace to furnish a ground of 
hope — his love to excite joy — his faithfulness, 
confidence. In like manner we may derive 
some practical instruction from every doctrine 
of revelation. 

Churches, in almost every age, have been in 
the practice of collecting these doctrines to- 



142 LECTURE VI. 

gether in some systematic form or order, de- 
nominated "Confessions of Faith and Cate- 
chisms," either for the purpose of exhibiting 
their views of the doctrines of Scripture to the 
world, assisting their own minds in obtaining 
an orderly view of them in their various rela- 
tions, or assisting the learner in obtaining a 
correct knowledge of them. These symbols 
of faith have been more or less elaborate and 
extensive, as the circumstances of the case 
have been thought to require, and have gener- 
ally contained those doctrines which were sup- 
posed to be most important and vital to the 
Christian system. More of these formularies 
were formed during the progress of the Refor- 
mation than in any preceding period — and they 
were generally both more elaborate and pre- 
cise. And this remarkable fact occurred with 
respect to them. They agreed with each other 
in relation to every doctrine which has been 
deemed vital to the Christian system. This may 
perhaps be best accounted for by the considera- 
tion that their framers came to the work wdth 
unsophisticated minds, recently illuminated and 
sanctified by the Spirit of all grace, and not con- 
taminated by a worldly philosophy, and drew 
the materials with which they wrought fresh 
from the oracles of God. Our own Confession 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 143 

of Faith and Catechisms, were of the number, 
and they will bear a fair comparison with the 
best of them. 

It will be no news to inform you that they 
have had their full share of assault from with- 
out and from within. This has, perhaps, never 
been more strikingly the case than within the 
last twenty years. The most humiliating cir- 
cumstance of all is, that the most violent 
assaults and the deepest wounds have been 
made by her sworn alHes, or homeborn sons. 
These are signs of the times over which angels 
might weep. These assaults have not been 
made against the outworks, but against the 
very citadel of truth. The robbery has not 
been committed on "the mint, cummin, and 
anise" of the sanctuary; but on the "weightier 
matters of the law, truth, judgment, and righte- 
ousness," the essential doctrines of the gospel — 
those which distinguish the Christian system 
from all others, and makes it to be what it is. 

Do you ask what are the essential doctrines 
of the gospel of the grace of God ? The fall 
of our first parents, and the consequent de- 
pravity, guilt, misery, and helplessness, of 
themselves and all their natural posterity, the 
depravity being inherited, and the guilt im- 
puted, by the just judgment of God, so that 
all are "by nature the children of wrath." 



144 LECTURE VK 

The proper and supreme Deity of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, as the only begotten son of God. 
The covenant or engagement into which he 
entered as the surety of his people, to redeem 
them from the curse of the law, by bearing its 
penalty in their stead. His incarnation — his 
vicarious sufferings and death, by which he 
made an atonement, by which he satisfied the 
divine law and justice, and brought in an ever- 
lasting righteousness, so that God might be 
just in the justification of every one that be- 
lieveth in him, he having " Borne their sins in 
his own body on the tree." Justification by 
faith through the imputed righteousness of 
Christ alone, as the meritorious cause. Re- 
generation by the supernatural power of the 
Holy Ghost, the sinner being considered as 
"dead in trespasses and sins,'' and he, as 
quickening him into life, slaying his enmity, 
and subduing his rebellion, not by moral sua- 
sion or motive presented, but by his own al- 
mighty energy, creating him anew in Christ 
Jesus. And finally, God's electing love in 
choosing them in Christ Jesus unto salvation, 
before the foundation of the world, according 
to the good pleasure of his will, and not on 
account of any worthiness or good foreseen in 
them, but that they inight be holy and without 
blame before him in love. 



CORRUPTION OP DOCTRINE. 145 

Now, every body knows, who knows any thing 
correctly about the matter, that these are doc- 
trines of the Presbyterian Church — that they are 
fully and clearly set forth in her standards — that 
they have been publicly professed by every one 
of her ministers and elders, who has not been 
smuggled into office — that they should be 
taught in all her pulpits, Sabbath Schools, Bible 
and Catechetical classes — -that we profess to 
beheve that they are drawn immediately from 
the Bible, and that they are supported and cor- 
roborated by many clear and indubitable testi- 
monies, drawn from the same source. Are these 
doctrines universally credited and maintained ? 
They are the doctrines of the Reformation, and 
with very little variation, that they are found in 
all the standards which sprang immediately from 
the Reformation ? In many instances they re- 
main in the book, but have been banished from 
the pulpit. The candidate has subscribed them, 
but the priest's lips that should keep knowledge, 
deny, and speak against them. Alas, that it 
should be so! Is it not a dark sign that men 
should profess one system of doctrine, and be- 
lieve, and teach another ? 

But how is it in our own beloved Zion? 
Have all her sons kept the faith ? The follow- 
ing question must be answered in the affirma- 
tive by every minister and elder who is inducted 

13 



146 LECTURE VI. 

into office in an orderly manner — "Do you 
sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of 
Faith of this Church, as containing the system 
of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures?" 
This would seem to be sufficient to declare the 
sentiments, and bind the conscience of every 
honest man — and our ministry and eldership 
should, under such bonds, all be of one mind, 
if not of one heart. What are the facts of 
the case ? There is scarcely a doctrine which 
I have mentioned, with the exception of the 
incarnation, which has not been denied, or frit- 
tered down, till scarcely one of its distinguish- 
ing features has been discernible. 

The manner of effecting the object has been 
various. Sometimes a dead silence has been 
maintained with respect to every leading doc- 
trine of the Christian system, because the peo- 
ple, it is alleged, do not like, or will not bear 
the preaching of the doctrines of the gospel — 
or because the preacher does not believe them 
to be of importance, or the preaching of them 
to be of injurious tendency — while at the same 
time the preacher inculcates, and the people 
hear, and bear doctrines of a contrary charac- 
ter. So that the objection lies not against doc- 
trinal preaching, but against the preaching of 
the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel — for 
who can preach or instruct at all, and yet teach 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 147 

no doctrine. What is doctrine, but the senti- 
ment entertained concerning a subject. Ano- 
ther method of corrupting or destroying the 
truth or doctrines of the gospel, is, to profess to 
beheve the doctrines, and hold them in the same 
sense with others, but to give contrary or dis- 
crepant views of them, and call them the phi- 
losophy of those doctrines. Our views of doc- 
trine agree, say they ; we differ only in their 
philosophy. What is the philosophy of a doc- 
trine, but the particular view which a man en- 
tertains of it, or the amount of his belief con- 
cerning it? Thus, by a philosophy, false so 
called, is the truth undermined, and the faith of 
the Church subverted. They hang these ap- 
ples of Sodom on the tree of life, ask us to 
eat them, as heavenly fruit, but they turn to 
ashes in the mouth. And the salve for the 
conscience is, that w^hen they were supposed 
to receive the Confession of Faith as contain- 
ing the system of doctrines taught in the Holy 
Scriptures^ they meant it only, " For substance 
of doctrine." That is; they received it as 
a whole, that they might impugn or reject as 
much of it as they pleased in detail. Of this, 
the age in which we live has furnished proofs 
and illustrations enough to satisfy the most 
scepticaL 



148 LECTURE VI. 

It has been said, that "original sin'' is one of 
the essential doctrines of the Christian religion. 
It holds a prominent place in our Confession of 
Faith. It is thus defir^d: "They (our first 
parents) being the root of all mankind, the guilt 
of this sin (their first transgression) was im- 
puted, and the same death in sin, and corrupted 
nature conveyed to all their posterity, descend- 
ing from them by ordinary generation." This, 
some deny entirely. Others say, all men are 
not sinners by nature, any more than Adam 
was. They are only liable to sin, if they live 
to perform moral acts. Others say, they will 
certainly sin.. And one of great notoriety, 
who, in words, acknowledges original sin, sums 
up his exposition of Rom. v. 12, by saying, "I 
understand it, therefore, as referring to the 
fact, that men sin in their own persons, in 
themselves — as, indeed, how can they sin in 
any other way ? and that, therefore, they die ;'' 
evidently implying, that no man can be a sin- 
ner, nor, as such, die, till he has voluntarily 
committed some act of sin. How this consists 
with orignal sin, and the death of infants, it 
would be difficult to show. No doctrine of 
revelation has been more misconstrued, mis- 
represented, hated, and impugned. Errorists, 
of every name, have assailed it with every 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 149 

weapon they have been able to bring to bear 
against it. And yet, it has been written in the 
oracles of God with the clearness of a sun- 
beam, and is attested by every death which 
has ever occurred on earth, as well as by the 
anguish of every father and mother who have 
buried an infant. 

But this, is not the only important Christian 
doctrine which has been assailed. Our Savi- 
our's proper and supreme deity has been as- 
saulted in a variety of forms. While the 
thorough Unitarian has made him a mere 
man, and the Arian has allowed him an an- 
gelic or super-angelic existence before his in- 
carnation, making him a kind of official God, 
the philosophical speculatist, anxious to solve 
every mystery in the deep things of God, and, 
unable to explain what is meant by the divine 
and eternal Sonship of Christ, has not only en- 
deavoured to maintain his divinity by a crip- 
pled and enfeebled argument, but with wanton 
impiety called, what he could not comprehend, 
"an eternal absurdity,'' while his Socinian 
neighbour stood by, and exclaimed, "Well 
done, my brother ;" and his humble followers, 
in the Presbyterian and other churches, echoed 
his folly, if not his impiety, and strengthened 
the hands of the enemies of this great and es- 
sential truth, " Jesus Christ is God over all." 

13* 



150 LECTURE VI. 

Again: — The covenant of works, in which 
Adam is considered as the federal head and re- 
presentative of all his natural posterity, in con- 
sequence of the violation of which they all in- 
herit a depraved nature, and, by the just judg- 
ment of God, the guilt of that first sin (not 
the sin itself, or the act of sinning, as some 
ignorantly or wilfully misrepresent it, but the 
guilt of it,) is imputed to them, is a doctrine 
clearly taught in our standards, as well as 
those of other churches,, and fully acknow- 
ledged by all our ministers and elders at their 
ordination. This is the language of our Con- 
fession of Faith. "The first covenant made 
with man was a covenant of works, wherein 
hfe was promised to Adam, and, in him, to his 
posterity, upon condition of perfect and per- 
sonal obedience." All this,- is denied, spoken 
against, and even ridiculed as an absurdity, by 
some; and by some, who have publicly re- 
ceived it as an article of their own faith, a 
part of that "system of doctrine taught in the 
Holy Scriptures." This, is the language of 
one, and the sentiment of many — printed in 
books, and taught from the pulpit. "Various 
attempts have been made to explain the intro- 
duction and propagation of sin in our world. 
The most common has been- — that Adam was 
the representative of the race ; that he was a 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 151 

covenant head, and that sin was imputed to his 
posterity, and that they were held hable to 
punishment for it as if they had committed it 
themselves. But to this, there are great and 
insuperable objections : 1. There is not one 
word of it in the Bible. Neither the terms 
representative, covenant, or impute, are ever 
applied to the transaction in the sacred Scrip- 
tures. 2. It is a mere philosophical theory; 
an introduction of a speculation into theology^ 
with an attempt to explain what the Bible has 
left unexplained." It is afterwards said, in 
the same connexion, " It compels us at once to 
ask the question, how can this be just ?" AH 
this may possibly be true. It may be good 
theology. It may be sound philosophy. It 
may even be scriptural. Although I do not 
believe it is either, but the germ of a heresy, if 
not itself a heresy — and so accounted in the 
standards of our Church. Whatever it may 
be to others,, we are bound to esteem it a great 
error, leading to others. He who should call 
it the mother of Pelagianism, would not give it 
a wrong name. I wonder how a Presbyterian 
minister, holding the sentiment, must feel, upon 
a prayerful revision of his ordination profes- 
sions and vows ? 

The atonement, a co-ordinate and essential 
doctrine of our holy religion, has fared no bet- 



152 LECTURE VI. 

ter, in these days of speculation, restlessness, 
and "march of mind," than its correlates. 
The doctrine is thus defined in our Confession 
of Faith : " The Lord Jesus, by his perfect 
obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he, 
through the eternal Spirit, once oflTered up unto 
God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Fa- 
ther; and purchased, not only reconciliation, 
but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom 
of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath 
given unto him." How has this doctrine been 
received ? Vital as it is to the Christian sys- 
tem, it has been assailed from many quarters. 
The Unitarian, as you know, denies it alto- 
gether. Some have, in words as well as in 
fact, denied the vicarious nature of the death 
of Christ, alleging, that he died for sin in the 
abstract, which is making no atonement at all, 
and would be as available for the sins of devils 
as of men. Others have represented it as, " A 
satisfaction rendered to the public justice of 
God, giving him an occasion to express his dis- 
pleasure against sin, and exercise his mercy in 
the forgiveness of sinners" — a very lame ac- 
count of so important a matter, leaving the de- 
mands of the law, and the justification of the 
sinner, where it found them, and as unscrip- 
tural as lame. And others again, in order to 
get clear of the doctrine of imputation, to 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 153 

which they have a mortal aversion in all its 
forms and bearings, although Christ " bore our 
sins in his own body on the tree," — and God 
" hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,'^ — 
and he has " brought in an everlasting righte- 
ousness," — " that we might be made the righ- 
teousness of God in him," deny that he bore 
the " penalty of the law,^" although that penalty 
was ^^ death;" and he "died for us," or in our 
stead, and " was made of a woman, and made 
under the law," for that very purpose. To 
such wretched subterfuges will men resort to 
get rid of the truth, and ease their consciences 
of the pressure of their vows. These prac- 
tices have been so general, that simple-hearted 
Christians have found it difficult to know what 
truth is, and to exclaim with tears, "They 
have taken away my Lord,, and I know not 
where they have laid him." 

Justification by faith, which Luther called^ 
" the article by which the Church stands or 
falls," has been assailed with no less violence 
and bitterness. Satan and his emissaries have 
always had a peculiar hatred against it. The 
doctrine is thus defined in the Larger Cate- 
chism: "Justification is an act of God's free 
grace unta sinners, in which he pardoneth all 
their sin, accepteth and accounteth their per- 
sons as righteous in his sight ; not for any thing 



154 LECTURE VI. 

wrought in them, or done by them, but only 
for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction 
of Christ, by God imputed to them, and re- 
ceived by faith alone." Every erroneous 
view of the atonement affects, in an equal 
degree, the doctrine of justijfication. When 
the first is given up, the last will fall as a 
matter of course — and where modified views 
of the former are held, they will affect the 
latter also. We accordingly find that when 
the doctrine of imputation is denied with re- 
spect to our fallen state, it is also denied with 
respect to the death of Christ, and the justifica- 
tion of sinners — so that in the first case, a por- 
tion of our race die without being guilty, in the 
second case Christ suffers inconceivably without 
any charge of guilt on his own account, or that 
of others, and in the third case, sinners are jus- 
tified under a violated law without any right- 
eousness of their own, or another's, and hence 
justification becomes a mere pardon, contrary 
to the whole showing of the Scriptures, as well 
as our standards, in which the ideas of svhstitU" 
Hon and satisfaction are kept continually before 
the mind, and are considered as essential to 
every correct idea of the true nature of the 
atonement. In modern instruction, however, 
no doctrine is so seldom brought to view, and 
on no subject do you hear such imperfect and 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 155 

unscriptural exhibitions. Men seem to be afraid 
of making God just as well as merciful in what 
the Scriptures denominate justification; and 
they improperly call it simple pardon. Indeed, 
few of them can explain the difference between 
them, although pardon is a mere remission of 
punishment, and justification means additionally 
a restoration to the divine favour, and a valid 
title to eternal life. The difference between 
the views entertained on this all important 
subject, well nigh constitute what Paul calls 
" another Gospel.^' 

Nor has the doctrine of Regeneration been 
less corrupted. This benefit of the Covenant 
of Grace is in our standards denominated, 
'' Effectual calling," and is defined to be " the 
work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us 
of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds 
in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our 
wills, he doth persuade and enable us to em- 
brace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the 
gospel.'^ Here we have a work of God's 
Spirit on the heart; by which the dead sinner 
is renewed or quickened, the blind has his eyes 
divinely opened and illuminated, the careless 
one is convinced of his sinful and lost estate, 
his rebellious will is renewed or subdued to new 
obedience, and his heart enabled, persuaded, 
or influenced by gospel motives, to embrace. 



156 LECTURE VI. 

and of course to follow Christ— and this repre* 
sentation of the case fully agrees with the 
Scriptures. Now what is this in modern 
theology and preaching? A change of the 
governing purpose^ a thing which it is said a 
man can as easily effect as he can change his 
business or hi^ coat. And how ? Why by a 
mere act of his own will. Hence a Presby- 
terian minister, in a Presbyterian pulpit in this 
city, prayed, " We do not ask thee, O Lord, to 
give these sinners power : Thou knowest that 
they have power enough." And how is this 
great change effected? By moral suasion — 
the preacher's skill in argumentation, or ability 
in presenting motives of persuasion. If the 
Holy Ghost has any thing to do with the mat- 
ter, it is to help the preacher to argue and per- 
suade. The poor hearer's eternal destiny is 
thus committed to the tender mercy and skill 
of his spiritual guide. As to spiritual illumina- 
tion, communication of knowledge, and con- 
vinction of sin, we hear no more of them, than 
if the Scriptures had been silent concerning 
them, or the sinner had not needed them. Ac- 
cording to this scheme, and it is of wide cur- 
rency, regeneration is nothing more than the 
stern determination of a man's own will to be 
religious. And when we press them with the 
difficulties of the case, and the teaching of the 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 157 

Scriptures on the subject, they think they have 
sufficiently answered us by a sneer at " Physi- 
cal Regeneration." The practical effect of all 
this has been to fill the Church with ignorant 
and unsound professors, from which nothing 
but the work of the Spirit, time, discipline, or 
death will deliver her. 

I add, lastly, though I might greatly extend 
my remarks, that the doctrine of election, with 
every thing relating to the divine sovereignty, 
is very extensively passed by in dead silence, as 
antiquated and useless, or stripped of most of 
its peculiar and essential characteristics, in or- 
der to render it more palatable to carnal minds, 
and bring it into an easier unison with the 
views which are held of the other doctrines of 
which I have spoken. The more common 
mode, however, has been to suffer it to go into 
disuse by default. It was my design to have 
directed your attention, in connexion with the 
part of the subject considered this evening, to 
the effects of this, in the alienation of feeling, 
and want of concert of action produced by it, 
too great reliance on human plans and efforts, 
and the withdrawal of the influences of the 
Holy Spirit from the Church. But time has 
failed me, and I must leave these important 
topics to another occasion. 

14 



158 LECTURE VI. 

These wide discrepancies from the Gospel of 
the grace of God, in their rapid advance and 
extensive spread, are intimately connected with 
the speculative disposition of a portion of our 
countrymen ; a pride of intellect which cannot 
bear to leave any thing unexplained; a foolish 
notion that a system of revealed truth, compre- 
hending the wisdom of God, is as improvable 
in the hands of a poor, ignorant, short-sighted 
mortal, as a human art or science which he has 
left us to spell out by the imperfect light of our 
reason; the desire of accommodating the doc- 
trines of religion to the corrupt dispositions of 
men, and rendering them more palatable to the 
carnal mind ; but above all, by the deceitfulness 
of sin. " The nineteenth century,'' and " the 
march of mind,'' have become phrases of talis- 
manic power, which, if a man can well pro- 
nounce, will make him a giant in philosophy 
and theology too, even if he cannot dig a single 
root in his Hebrew Bible, construct an argument 
from prepared materials, or connect two ideas 
together in an orderly manner. 

There have, however, been other causes in 
operation which have had a mighty influence on 
this momentous subject, the influence of which 
has been gradual and almost unsuspected. 
There was a time when the ministers and elders 



CORRUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 159 

of the churches felt that the children of the 
congregation were their special charge, to be 
watched over, and instructed in the first princi- 
ples of our holy religion as contained in our 
Catechisms. There was also a time when 
Christian parents felt it to be their duty at some 
time on the Lord's day, commonly in the even- 
ing, to gather their offspring together, and ex- 
amine them on their knowledge of the Cate- 
chism, as well as instruct them, and pray with 
them. But for a number of years past, unless 
the practice has been recently changed, these 
laudable endeavours to bring the young up in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord have 
gone into disuse. This has in part arisen from 
the idea that they received a sufficiency of in- 
struction in the Sabbath school, where, till re- 
cently, a Catechism was seldom found. By 
tliis means, ministers, elders, and parents found 
it an easy matter to relieve their consciences of 
a weighty burden. But the consequence has 
been, that a generation or two of our youth 
have grown up without any systematic and or- 
derly instruction in divine things, well prepared 
to be impressed by every novelty, and carried 
about by every wind of doctrine which blow 
upon them. Would it be strange if a field thus 
cultivated should produce a harvest of tares ? 



160 LECTURE VI. 

Shall we not, my dear hearers, learn wisdom 
from the past ? Shall all our unhappy experi- 
ence be lost upon us? Then will God in vain 
have held up before us this dark " sign of the 
times." We shall resemble the children of Is- 
rael, of whom the Lord says : " Who among 
you will give ear to this? who will hearken, 
and hear for the time to come? who gave Ja- 
cob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did 
not the Lord, he, against whom we have sin- 
ned ? for they would not walk in his ways, nei- 
ther were they obedient unto his law. There- 
fore he hath poured upon him the fury of his 
anger, and the strength of battle : and it hath 
set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; 
and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart." 
This has been strikingly verified in the present 
day, with respect to errors in doctrine. The 
enemy came in so gently, so disguised; and 
when the mask began to fall oflf, there was so 
much zeal, activity, bustle, and seeming good 
accomphshed, that the friends of sound doc- 
trine we:e afraid to lift up their voices, lest, 
happily, they might be found contending 
against God. And in the mean time, those 
who had sufficient discernment to observe the 
course of events, and sufficient courage to 
stand in the breach, and sound the alarm, were 



CORUUPTION OF DOCTRINE. 161 

stigmatized as old dotards^ who were at least 
fifty years behind the spirit of the age, the ene- 
mies of revivals, and the conversion of the 
world. It was no easy thing to stand up 
against such a host, and maintain the cause of 
truth and order. The wonder is, that a stand 
was made, and the progress of the evil ar- 
rested. 

And, now, what is duty? To learn wisdom 
from experience — to let the past teach us. 
This exhortation of God seems to me to be 
appropriately addressed to his people at the 
present day : " Stand ye in the ways, and see, 
and ask for the old paths — where is the good 
way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest 
for your souls." Study the truth. Love the 
truth. Maintain the truth. See to it, that it 
be taught in the churches, and particularly to 
your youth and children. Especiallly let pa- 
rents see to it, that it is taught to their chil- 
dren, not only in the Sabbath-school and cate- 
chetical class, but in their houses, and from 
their lips ; for to whom will children hsten with 
as much attention and interest, as to their own 
fathers and mothers? Draw out the practical 
effects of the doctrines you profess in your 
lives, and prove to gainsayers, that the truth 
produces godliness. And put to the blush the 

14* 



162 LECTURE VI. 

vile aspersion, that adherence to truth and or- 
der are inimical to practical religion and revi- 
vals, by renewed activity in promoting the 
cause of God, both at home and abroad ; and 
by being much engaged in that " fervent and 
effectual prayer,'' , which the Word of God, 
and the experience of his people teach, is so 
effectual in drawing down blessings from his 
throne. Thus will you\put gainsayers to si- 
lence, and promote that "kingdom, which is 
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." 

" Now^, the God of peace, that brought again 
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great 
Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of 
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in 
every good work, to do his will, working in 
you that which is well pleasing in his sight, 
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for 
ever and ever." 



LECTURE VII. 

EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION IN DOCTRINE. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

The last " sign of the times," to which our at- 
tention was directed, was — The alarming and 
extensive corruption of doctrine which exists 
at the present day, particularly in our own 
Church. It was remarked, that we may un- 
derstand by doctrine, any thing which is 
taught. Applied to religion it means, the sup- 
posed truths or tenets which constitute it what 
it is, and give it a distinctive character. The 
doctrines of the Christian religion are, the truths 
which are taught in the Bible, and these go to 
make up what is called, "The Christian sys- 
tem." These have been embodied in formulas 
of gieater or less extent, and have been vari- 
ously denominated, " Confessions of Faith, or 
" Articles of Religion," and " Catechisms," ac- 
cording to the form into which they have been 
thrown. 



164 LECTURE VII. 

It was also remarked, that strong objections 
had been made to what is called, "doctrinal 
preaching," principally upon the ground that it 
was unnecessary. To which it was replied, 
that the objection, if carried out, would pre- 
clude all preaching or instruction, and, that 
those who were the loudest in their objections, 
still had doctrines of their own, with the incul- 
cation of which they were well pleased; so 
that, the objection lay only against the doc- 
trines which they did not relish. It was then 
shown, that out of this had grown, in the first 
place, the neglect of certain doctrines, and then 
their rejection, the intermediate step being, the 
inculcating of a new philosophy on the subject, 
directly hostile to its plain meaning, while the 
doctrine itself was professed to be believed. 

A general view was taken of the leading 
doctrines of the Christian system ; and it was 
shown, that almost every one of them has been 
impugned by modern errorists, particularly in 
our own Church, ascertained and proved, by 
comparing our Confession of Faith and Cate- 
chisms with the instructions of these men from 
the pulpit and the press, on the same subjects. 
The discrepancy was seen to be wide and radi- 
cal; and it was remarked, that it was calcu- 
lated to produce great and unhappy effects. 
Three points were particularly mentioned, but 



i 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 165 

their discussion and elucidation were, for want 
of time, postponed to this evening, viz: 1st, 
" Alienation of feeling, and want of concert in 
action." 2d. A too great reliance on instru- 
ments to the neglect of God. 3d. The with- 
drawal of the influences of the Holy Spirit 
from the Church. These topics, according to 
promise, will constitute the matter of our medi- 
tation this evening, in the order in which they 
have been mentioned. 

1st. Alienation in feeling and want of con- 
cert in action. 

It is a well estabhshed principle, that two can- 
not walk together except they be agreed. What 
men possess in common with each other, is 
always the basis of their association, and the 
cause of the satisfaction which they derive 
from it. This is particularly the case in the 
concerns of religion. Any great discrepancy 
of views, especially with respect to important 
principles, will, as far as they go, abate a por- 
tion of that warm and reciprocal affection 
which makes intercourse so delightful, and 
action so harmonious and efficient. The 
converse of this is equally true. When men 
disagree, they cannot exercise that full flow of 
aflfection, and that combination of energy in 
action, which renders intercourse so delight- 
ful, and action so powerful. It may be asked. 



166 LECTURE VII. 

how this consists, for instance, with the affec- 
tionate union and vigorous efforts of the va- 
rious denominations of professing Christians, 
differing so widely from each other in points 
which are deemed not unimportant, and even 
radical, in the great Bible cause. The reason 
is found in a principal which has been incor- 
porated in the Constitution of every general 
Bible Society, in these words — "without note 
or comment." Take this away, and you 
would have as many Bible Societies as there 
are denominations. And, if it should be fur- 
ther asked, how this accords with the affection 
entertained for each other by Christians of dif- 
ferent denominations ? I would answer, in this 
case, each believes the other to be honest in his 
profession, and a sincere follower of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and in this is laid the foundation 
of a solid and reciprocal affection. 

The case is widely different where the par- 
ties concerned profess the same creed, but the 
one receives it, and teaches it, in its plain, ob- 
vious, and generally received sense ; while the 
other holds his solemn profession of it as a mat- 
ter of very little importance, and in his prac- 
tice under it, explains it away, and formally, 
as well as circumstantially, contradicts it, and 
teaches what is directly contrary to it. In the 
one case we may respect a man for his inte- 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 167 

grity, and have confidence in his character, 
while in the other, it is no easy matter to 
divest ourselves of the idea that we are deal- 
ing with a double-minded man, who is acting a 
part to answer some unholy and selfish pur- 
pose. 

It has been thought that both truth and error 
leave their own impress on the mind. Truth, 
especially the truth as it is in Jesus, has the 
eflfect to purify the heart, and attach it to truth 
and righteousness. While error blinds the 
mind, and leads the heart away from God, and 
makes it reckless of all truth. Errorists are, 
therefore, in danger of being given over to 
strong delusion, even to the believing of a lie. 
None are in so great danger of this as those 
who, by a formal and solemn profession, are 
connected with churches who hold as funda- 
mental, the truths which are diametrically op- 
posed to their errors. And the reason is ob- 
vious. The connection is formed, if not in 
falsehood, yet in derogation of the truth, in 
mental reservation or prevarication. They do 
not mean Hterally what others understand by 
their language and acts. 

Such original departures from candour and 

openfaced honesty have an evil influence on 

the conscience which is not easily overcome. 

It gives a warp to the very principle of truth 

I 



168 L E CTURE VIK 

in a man's heart which rarely ceases to affect 
him through hfe, and if it does not lead him to 
barefaced falsehood, it will make him uncan- 
did and trickish. He will verify the adage, 

"Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." 

This has been found lamentably true with res- 
pect to some of the leading errorists of the 
Christian Church. Among these, Pelagius, who 
flourished in the early part of the fifth century, 
holds a prominent rank, Milner in his Church 
History gives the following account of him — 
" His first writings were an Epistle to PauHnus 
of Nola, and other little works, in which his 
erroneous views of grace were so artfully ex- 
pressed, and so guarded with cautious terms, 
that Augustine owns he was almost deceived 
by them. But when he saw his other writings 
of a later date, he discerned that he might 
artfully own the word grace, and by retaining 
the term, break the force of prejudice, and 
avoid offence, and yet conceal his meaning 
under a general ambiguity." 

"For, by a dexterity very common with 
heretics, Pelagius, while he laid open to his 
converts the whole mystery of his doctrine, 
imparted only so much to others as might be 
more calculated to ensnare their affections than 
to inform them of his real opinions. He used 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 169 

to deliver his views under the modest appear- 
ance of queries, started against the doctrines 
of the Church, and those as not invented by 
himself, but by others. The effect of poison- 
ing the minds of men was, however, perhaps 
more powerfully produced by this, than it 
would have been by a more direct and posi- 
tive method." It is added, that " his attempts 
were to undermine the doctrines of grace." 

Arminius and his followers in Holland, ma- 
nifested the same disposition, and followed 
a similar course. After entering upon the 
solemn duties of their holy offices, under the 
most solemn pledges which men could give, of 
believing the doctrines held by the Church, and 
engaging to teach them, they laboured with 
all their might, in a clandestine manner, to un- 
dermine and destroy them — and they left no 
species of trick or subterfuge unemployed to 
deceive and blind those who were opposed to 
them as to their real sentiments, gain time 
to propagate their doctrines, strengthen their 
cause, and escape the condemnation which 
they justly deserved. 

Any person who will read with attention the 
history of these errorists, and compare them 
with the course pursued by those of the pre- 
sent day, will be amazed to observe the simi- 

15 



170 LECTURE VII. 

larity, and especially with respect to candour 
and truth. This remark will probably apply to 
all errorists who enter churches, being error- 
ists, or who, becoming such, determine to re- 
main in them. They commence their course 
in deceit and implied falsehood, and vitiate and 
weaken their moral sense at the start, and give 
their consciences a lurch from which they 
rarely recover. This ought not to surprise us. 
The obhgations which the clergyman takes 
upon his soul, when he assumes his sacred 
office, are of so awful a nature, that if he can 
bring his conscience to trifle with truth in that 
transaction, he will hardly be over fastidious in 
others. The light of history furnishes instruc- 
tion on this subject which ought not to be lost 
upon us. 

If the view which has been taken of the 
subject, even approximates truth, it ought to 
create no surprise that there have been loss of 
confidence, alienation of feeling, and want of 
concert of action in the Presbyterian Church. 
Her doctrines are so carefully and explicitly 
stated in her formularies of faith, and the pro- 
fessions and vows of her ministers and elders 
upon entering on their holy offices are so une- 
quivocal, that wide discrepancies of views with 
respect to her leading doctrines do not seem 
very consistent with that high character for 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 171 

truth and piety which such professions and 
VOWS imply, especially if departures are con- 
nected with w^ant of candour and openness, 
and a seeming design to change what we have 
professed to believe as true and important, and 
promised to teach and uphold. 

Men are undoubtedly entitled to believe and 
teach such doctrines as they please, under their 
high responsibility to God. But no man has a 

S=» right to profess one thing, and believe and 
teach another. And if he does so, he has no 
right to ask our respect and confidence. I am 
very far from believing that a man may not be 
entitled to my respect and confidence as an 
honest, conscientious, and pious man, w^ho dif- 
fers from me even in important things — but I 
could award him neither, if he professed the 
same things with me, and at the same time 

, gave me reason to believe that his professions 
and real belief were at utter disagreement. 
You have in this the reason of those wide and 
mournful alienations which have distracted and 
well nigh destroyed the Presbyterian Church, 
and why its various parts have lacked that 
concert in action which should have distin- 
guished her, and would have made her, " clear 
as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an 
army with banners." That high responsibihty 
and heavy blame attaches somewhere, can be 



172 LECTURE VII. 

neither denied, nor disguised. That those who 
conscientiously beUeve and maintain her stan- 
dards, have uniformly exercised and cherished 
right feelings, and contended for, as well as 
taught the truth in a right manner, and with a 
right spirit, I dare not assert. But I do aver, 
that the burden of this rests, and must rest, 
upon those who have departed from the plain- 
ness and simpHcity of the faith of our common 
profession, and that they can heal our breaches 
and divisions by returning to the faith they 
have professed. Then all hearts would open 
to receive them — and we should go forth to- 
gether, under the banner of our Saviour's love, 
to the conquest of the world. Then would 
this dark and lurid sign of the times be ex- 
changed for " the bow of promise," God's sign 
of peace to a ruined world. The truth, how- 
ever, as embodied in our standards, we cannot 
give up, for, " we have opened our mouths unto 
the Lord, and therefore cannot go back." 

2d. Another effect resulting from corruption 
of doctrine has been, "A too great rehance 
upon instruments to the neglect of God." No 
principle can be better established than, that 
however wisely the Divine instrumentalities are 
arranged for the accomplishment of their ob- 
jects, that still their efficiency depends entirely 
on God — just as a set of tools may be well fit- 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 173 

ted for the construction of a work of art, yet 
they will accomplish nothing without the hand 
and mind of the artist. This has been amply 
acknowledged, by the wisest and best of God's 
servants. Says Paul, to the Corinthians, "I 
have planted, Apollos watered ; but God gave 
the increase." And again, he saith of all the 
gifts and graces which adorn the Christian 
character, "All these worketh that one and 
the self-same spirit, dividing to every man 
severally as he will." The illustration is found 
in the conversion of Lydia, which must be the 
same in all other cases. She heard Paul and 
Silas, and became a sincere convert to the 
Christian faith. And although there were a 
number of others present who heard the same 
instruction, she alone was thus affected: and 
so it has been on a thousand other occasions. 
What made the difference in her case? The 
divine record informs us — "Whose heart the 
Lord opened, that she attended unto the things 
which were spoken of Paul." This looks very 
like a work of the Holy Spirit on the heart of 
the poor sinner^ or, what our brethren call, 
"physical regeneration." And this, we sup- 
pose, takes place in the conversion of every 
sinner. 

The necessity of this is laid in the natural 
condition of our race. We are described in 

15* 



174 LECTURE VII. 

the Word of God, not only as "blind" and 
"deaf," but, as "dead in trespasses and sins;" 
a state of not only deplorable wretchedness, 
but of entire helplessness, from which nothing 
but the supernatural agency and almighty en- 
ergy of the Holy Spirit can relieve us. Our 
brethren tell us, no — it requires nothing more 
than a little skill on the part of the preacher in 
presenting and urging motives, or, what is 
technically called, "moral suasion," and the 
work is done, provided the sinner at the proper 
time make the right choice, and put forth a 
vigorous effort of his will, which he can do 
with the same facility that he can determine to 
go to New York rather than to Baltimore. 
Otherwise, say they, man is not a moral agent, 
for that implies, "the power of a contrary 
choice." that is to say, although a man may 
have ten thousand reasons or motives to seek 
the salvation of his soul, and not one to ne- 
glect it, he cannot be a moral agent, unless he 
have the power of determining to be damned 
without any motive at all. Or, in other words, 
that a man sins because he loill sin, and not 
because he is enticed by his lusts. 

It having been thus summarily settled, that 
man is not totally depraved, or, according to 
the teachings of the Scriptures, " dead in tres- 
passes and sins," the pecuhar office and work 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE, 175 

of the Holy Spirit are superseded, and men are 
prepared to rely upon the inventions and skilful 
efforts of their fellow creatures, to bring them 
out of nature's darkness into the glorious light 
and hberty of the children of God. Hence, 
men talk familiarly of getting up revivals of 
religion, the whole secret of which consists in 
getting together a few ministers of the right 
stamp^ preaching to the people a few days, con- 
cerning moral agency and their ability to 
change their own hearts, getting their minds 
excited on the subject by continued effort, com- 
mitting them by coming to the anxious-seat, 
and determining to be religious, while, at the 
same time, you hear little or nothing concern- 
ing their sinful, guilty, and undone condition, 
repentance, faith, the doings and sufierings of 
the Saviour, the work of the Holy Spirit, con- 
fession of sin, the distinguishing nature of reli- 
gious exercises, the nature and necessity of 
self-examination, the deceitfulness and wicked- 
ness of the human heart, the calls and invita- 
tions of the Gospel, the moral resemblance of 
the Christian to his Master, Christ, and the 
peculiar characteristics of the Christian life. 
Nearly all of these would be thought out of 
place, and so would almost all the distinguish- 
ing doctrines of our holy religion; and the 
minister who should bring forward such topics, 



176 LECTURE VII, 

would not be welcome on such occasions. He 
would be accused of marring the work, and 
hindering its progress. Every thing which 
looks like an exhibition of human nature, as it 
is described in the Scriptures, or the peculiar 
agency of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of 
sinners, or dependence upon his influences, 
must be kept as far out of sight as possible, 
lest sinners should remit their own exertions. 
Why are these things so, if men have not lost 
sight of their dependence on God, and rely 
upon an arm of flesh? Why, if he be the effi- 
cient agent in the conversion of sinners, are 
not men referred to God for the bestowment of 
this unspeakable gift, since he has said, "If ye 
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
to your children, how much more will your 
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask him?" Why are men afraid to deal 
in such encouraging truths, if they have not 
rejected them? In apostolical days it was not 
so. Then, they could exhort men to "work 
out their own salvation with fear and trem- 
bling," by the consideration, that it was God 
who works in them, both to will and to do of 
his good pleasure." Can it be otherwise, un- 
der such instruction, than that men should rely, 
either upon the stern determination of their 
own wills, or the persuasive skill and power of 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 177 

Others to produce that stupendous change 
which is denominated, "regeneration?" How 
can they fail to entertain such sentiments, 
when they are continually sounded in their 
ears? And if it be true, that our religion 
takes its type from the instruction which we 
receive, then it will follow, that the religion 
thus induced will stand, not in the power of 
God, but in the wisdom of men. Who, then, 
can be surprised, that it should prove as the 
morning cloud and the early dew? of which, 
the present day furnishes such numerous and 
melancholy illustrations. 

Do you fear that I would make man a mere 
stock, and take away his moral responsibili- 
ties ? — that I would furnish him with a warrant 
to stand still, and fold his hands to sleep? Far 
from it, my hearers. Does it indulge a man in 
idleness, to exhort him to " work out his own 
salvation with fear and trembling,'' and en- 
courage him to do so by the consideration, 
that " it is God who works in him, both to will 
and to do of his good pleasure," especially 
when it is connected with faithful exhibitions of 
the danger he incurs by every hour's delay. 
Is it a discouragement to be informed, of his 
entire helplessness and dependence, when he is 
at the same time told, that God is more willing 
to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him 



178 LECTURE VIK 

than parents are to give bread to their hungry 
children? It may mortify their pride, but, in 
itself, it is the greatest encouragement we can 
possibly have, for it assures us of an influence 
which nothing is able to resist. It is a vile 
slander, which is cast upon men, who, while 
they honour the grace of God in the conver- 
sion of sinners, and follow the direction of his 
Word, and the example of his inspired ser- 
vants, in exhibiting the whole truth, exhort, and 
urge their fellow creatures with as much affec- 
tion and force as others, to " strive to enter in 
at the straight gate." From dependence on 
instruments, to the neglect of the Holy Spirit, 
of whom, and his influences, • little is heard in 
the preaching or prayers of these men, has re- 
sulted, 

3d. To no inconsiderable extent, the with- 
drawal of the influences of the Holy Spirit 
from the Church. The fact, that those divine 
influences with which the Church was blessed 
a few years ago, and which caused so much 
joy among the people of God, have, to a great 
extent, ceased, admits of no dispute. Mourn- 
ful as the fact is, it cannot be denied. That 
there must be a cause for it, admits of no 
doubt. Nor can we hesitate in believing, that 
the cause must be sought in the Church. It 
has been attributed to the disputes and divi- 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 179 

sions which have existed in the Church. 
These have not only occupied the attention of 
multitudes, to the neglect of many Christian 
duties, but, from the evil influence which they 
have exerted on the hearts of Christians, have 
unfitted them rightly to desire and seek the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Under these 
circumstances, a healthful influence from hea- 
ven could not have been expected. For this, a 
(Jreadful responsibihty rests upon all who have 
indulged those tempers, by which the Holy 
Spirit has been grieved, and especially upon 
those by whom the oflence has come. " Woe 
to that man by whom the oflfence cometh." 
The whole Church has reason to be humbled 
in the very dust before God on this account. 
Who is free from this sin ? Who has no rea- 
son to mourn ? Who can fail to see in this 
one reason why the Lord has withdrawn the 
influences of the Holy Spirit? 

But this is not the only reason. There has 
been, among those who hold the truth in right- 
eousness, a sinking of the heart, which has en- 
feebled and crippled them in prayer and exer- 
tion, so that they have been afraid to stretch 
their desires abroad, and use with the Lord 
that holy boldness and importunity in which he 
dehghts, and which has so often drawn down 
blessings from on high. And then again, 



180 LECTUREVII. 

when they have heard doctrines preached, and 
seen practices pursued, which they deemed 
contrary to the word of God, and yet saw ef- 
fects wrought which appeared to indicate the 
presence and power of God, they have some- 
times, without due consideration, been carried 
away by the current, disregarding truth and 
order, thus grieving the Holy Spirit. Or, they 
have stood still, made no exertion, and re- 
ceived the reward of idleness. Or, they have 
refrained bearing witness for the truth, for fear 
of being found fighting against God, who 
seemed to bless what appeared to them to be 
error, the fruit not having yet developed itself. 
Thus they have been paralysed, both;^in heart 
and action, to an extent from which they have 
not yet recovered themselves. Their perplexi- 
ties have been increased by the taunts of er- 
rorists, who have accused them of holding sen- 
timents which precluded the use of means for 
the promotion of revivals and godliness, and 
which they declared to be hostile to both, until 
thev almost believed the slander, and were 
afraid to bestir themselves. They well nigh 
became what they were slanderously reported 
to be. Thanks be to God, this delusion is be- 
ginning to vanish away, and a day appears to 
be dawning, when the lovers of truth and order 
shall shake off this benumbing lethargy, and do 



EFFECTS 0F CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 181 

their duty to God and the world. Then it will 
be fully manifest, whether truth and error are 
equally conducive to revivals of pure and un- 
defiled religion ; and it will cease to be difficult 
to distinguish between the precious and the 
vile — between truth and error — between the 
will of God, and the inventions of men. 

I advert to only one reason more, why the 
influences of the Spirit have to so great a de- 
gree been withdrawn from the Church. I al- 
lude to the fact, that they have, to a very 
great extent, been undervalued, and almost su- 
perseded by the inventions of men. I have al- 
ready remarked, that but httle is heard of the 
influences of the Holy Spirit, either in the 
preaching or prayers of some of the ministers 
of that Saviour, who said to the disciples, '^ Be- 
hold, I send the promise of my Father upon 
you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, un- 
til ye be endued with power from on high.'' 
And they did tarry till they received the Penti- 
costal anointing, and then went forth to the 
conquest of the world. This great truth, how- 
ever, seems to be as studiously avoided by 
many as if they felt afraid to let the people 
know that there is such a being as the Holy 
Spirit, or that men needed him to regenerate, 
enlighten, comfort, and sanctify their souls; 
probably because they have imbibed the senti- 

16 



182 



LE CTURE VII. 



ments, that men are not " dead in trespasses 
and sins" — are not totally depraved — can as 
easily change their hearts as their garments — 
have need only to have the truth rightly pre- 
sented to their minds in order to love, choose, 
and obey it ; that, if these things are not so, 
then man is no moral agent, possesses all the 
power necessary to accomphsh all the pur- 
poses of his salvation, and if it were otherwise, 
then would God be a try rant to require him to 
obey, and unjust to punish him. 

If such sentiments are correct, then truly 
have we no need of the influences of the Holy 
Spirit, and men do right to repudiate him. 
But, if they be as false as the Bible teaches 
them to be, then let no man wonder why, 
where they are taught, the Holy Spirit, 
quenched and grieved, should withdraw him- 
self from them, and leave them to the ineffi- 
ciency of their own inventions. May not this 
be had in view in such a declaration as this, "I 
will go and return to my place, till they ac- 
knowledge their oflfence, and seek my face.'' 
Is there not a sufiicient reason in all this for 
the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit from those 
who thus treat him? Does not this satisfac- 
torily account for the dearth and barrenness 
which exist to so great and lamentable an ex- 
tent in the Church at the present day ? And 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 183 

will there ever be a change for the better till 
men shall say to each other, " Come, and let 
us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and 
he will heal us : he hath smitten, and he will 
bind us up." 

From this subject we may learn, 

1st. That departures from the truth and or- 
der of God's house are both sinful and danger- 
ous. The essential truths, or doctrines, of the 
Christian religion are so fully and clearly 
stated in the Scriptures as to make their obvi- 
ous meaning easily understood; and, in fact, 
the difficulties of men with respect to them 
have commenced with attempts at reconciling 
them with sentiments previously imbibed. In 
these attempts, if they have not been possessed 
with a high reverence for the word of God, 
their fondness of their own mental views has 
led them so to interpret the holy oracles as to 
bring them, as nearly as possible, into harmony 
with these. Successful attempts have led them 
to make new experiments, until at length they 
have elaborated a new gospel, bearing very 
few of the characteristics of that Gospel, which 
plain common sense and humble piety would 
recognise from a perusal of the sacred pages. 
Whether this can innocently take place, is a 
grave question, which men should scrupulously 



184 LECTURE VII. 

ponder. It is, at all events, very certain, that 
no man can proceed either far or long in such 
a course, and maintain a becoming reverence 
for the word of God, or fail of having his 
heart perverted by error. And the danger is 
greatly increased if they have previously sub- 
scribed to a system of doctrine, for they are 
obliged to tamper with, or pollute their consci- 
ences at the start. They may, in this case, 
have been innocently convinced that they have 
adopted a system which they do not now be- 
lieve ; but they cannot innocently continue in 
the profession of a system the essentials of 
which they have repudiated, or the connexion 
in which it has placed them. 

Nor will the sin of such a course be dimin- 
ished when we look at the distrust, alienations, 
bickerings, and contentions which, almost ne- 
cessarily, grow out of such a state of things. 
Who can have confidence in a man who dis- 
regards his own solemn professions? Or, who 
can rely upon one who is as unstable as water ? 
Can it be innocent to destroy " the unity of the 
Spirit," and rupture " the bonds of peace" in a 
Church? What becomes of the beauty and 
order of God's house ? the edification of the 
body of Christ ? the salvation of souls ? What 
must it lead the world to think of religion 
itself? Let the history and state of our own 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 185 

beloved portion of Zion, so long and greatly 
favoured of God, answer these questions, and 
let the churches and ministers of God ponder 
them in their hearts, and learn wisdom from 
past folly and sin. Let them look at the deso- 
lations which have been made, and, if they 
have any sympathy with mourning, bleeding 
Zion, let them cry with their whole heart, " O 
that my head were waters, and mine eyes a 
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and 
night for the slain of the daughter of my peo- 
ple." 

2d. This subject should teach churches and 

ministers the importance of guarding against 
the first departures from the doctrines of our 
holy religion as they are taught in the Scrip- 
tures, and embodied in the public and au- 
thorized standards, even though they may seem 
small and unimportant. Error is not ordina- 
rily of mushroom growth. It is commonly 
produced by little and little. Aberrations com- 
mence in shades of difference. They relate 
perhaps to articles which are esteemed of 
minor importance. They do not affect the 
vitals of religion. They may be commenced 
by good and useful men, and it would wound 
their feelings and hinder their usefulness, were 
you to admonish them or call them to an ac- 
count. Meek-eyed charity cries, " Is it not a 

16* 



186 LECTURE VII. 

little city?" "Behold how great a matter a 
little fire kindleth." Had Solomon's advice 
been followed, what a world of difficulty and 
sin would have been prevented. " Take us the 
foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines." 
This good and useful man may have an in- 
quisitive and speculative mind. He has gotten 
into a world of pleasing novelties. He passes 
on from trifling to more grave and weighty 
matters, and his changes still please him. He 
has, by modification, made the gospel more 
palatable to some mind which had before been 
embarassed by some of the aspects and rela- 
tions of truth. It may be that his labours 
have been apparently, perhaps really, blessed 
to many. What follows ? He becomes given 
to change. His mind is unsettled and restless. 
He tries his experiments on the weightier mat- 
ters of the law with equal success and satisfac- 
tion to himself, until the very landmarks of 
truth vanish from his vision, and he is afloat 
on a boundless ocean without chart or com- 
pass. He attributes his success to his novel- 
ties, and exalts them above the clear dictates 
of the Spirit. Others become captivated by 
Ms imaginations. A party is formed. The 
strife commences. The Church is agitated, 
distracted, torn, divided : — and the Holy Spirit, 
grieved by such a state of things, takes his 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 187 

flight to heaven. And should the leaven begin 
to operate in an age like the present, when the 
foundations of ages are torn up, and the human 
mind is loosed from its moorings, it will be a 
wonder, if the grace of God prevent not, if the 
waters of this flood do not rise above the tops 
of the highest mountains. This, however is 
our consolation. The ark of God is safe. 
But, O, what a mass of evil might have been 
prevented, if even a few minds had been pos- 
sessed of a little more modesty, humility, self- 
distrust, or wisdom ! Or, if the Church of God 
had taken timely precaution to correct the evil ! 
Has not the Lord rebuked and punished her 
for her want of watchfulness and faithfulness, 
and grasping ambition to spread herself out 
" like a green bay tree," and foolish confidence 
in her own power and strength? Let us re- 
ceive the divine rebuke with meekness and 
humiUty, and watch and pray that we fall not 
again into this temptation ! 

3d. Finally: Let us acknowledge our sin 
before God, forsake the evil of our ways, real- 
ize our dependence upon God for the success 
of all our eflforts to build up his kingdom, and 
with deep humility of soul, and much fervency 
and importunity of prayer, seek the return of 
the blessed Comforter, the Holy Ghost, to the 
Church, from which we have grieved him away 



188 LECTURE VII. 

by our sins. Let us say again to each other, in 
the language and spirit of the prophet, " come, 
and let us return unto the Lord ; for he hath 
torn, and he will heal us ; he hath smitten and 
he will bind us up." Such a withdrawal of di- 
vine influences as the Presbyterian body has 
experienced is not to be accounted for indepen- 
dently of sin ; " sin lieth at the door." If error 
be sinful, we have tolerated it. Or if we have 
contended for the truth, have we always done 
so in a Christian spirit, and with spiritual wea- 
pons ? Have we not been so proud, and vain- 
glorious of the success and enlargement which 
God hath given us as to " forget the rock from 
whence we were hewn, and the hole of the pit 
from which we were digged," and with it, our 
dependence upon God? And in consequence 
of this, has not prayer been restrained ? And 
then again God has been dishonoured, and the 
Holy Spirit grieved, as well by unscriptural 
compliances for the promotion of revivals, 
as by a sinking of the heart, which denoted 
want of confidence in God and in his truth to 
promote his glory in the salvation of sinners. 
These are so many causes for deep self-abase- 
ment and humiliation before God, and repent- 
ance for our sins; as well as reasons for re- 
turning to him with mourning, and weeping, 
and lamentation. Let this be our prayer: "O 



EFFECTS OF CORRUPT DOCTRINE. 189 

that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou 
wouldst come down, that the mountains might 
flow down at thy presence." " O Lord, revive 
thy work in the midst of the years, in the 
midst of the years make known ; in wrath re- 
member mercy ?" And then the day will soon 
come when he will put a new song into our 
mouths, and these shall be some of its notes — 
"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, 
and he will save us : this is the Lord ; we have 
waited for him ; and we will be glad and re- 
joice in his salvation.'' May sovereign mercy 
hasten it in its season ! 



LECTURE VIII. 

SPIRIT OF FANATICISM. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

The last " sign of the times," to which your 
attention was directed, w^as — The corruption of 
doctrine in the Christian Church, especially in 
our own branch of it ; and the effects of this 
corruption: 1st. In alienation of feehng, and 
want of concert in action. 2d. Too great re- 
liance on human plans and efforts in building 
up the cause of Christ. 3d. The withdrawal 
of the influences of the Holy Spirit, without 
which the Church of God can neither be main- 
tained, enlarged, beautified, strengthened, nor 
rendered eflicient. The course of investiga- 
tion showed, conclusively, that these effects 
had, to a great and lamentable extent, resulted 
from these causes as their fruits; that their 
influence on the interests of religion had 
been very deleterious; that a great amount 
of blame must necessarily rest on those, who, 



FANATICISM. 191 

professing a pure faith, had nevertheless held 
and taught corrupt doctrines, and thereby, con- 
trary to vows voluntarily taken, and obliga- 
tions voluntarily contracted, destroyed both the 
purity and peace of the Church, hindered its 
edification, and paralysed its influence ; that it 
is the duty of such men to renounce their er- 
rors, or, in default of this, if they would act 
the part of honest men, to separate themselves 
from churches, whose doctrines they have 
either never believed, or concerning which 
they have changed their views; and finally, 
that it is the duty of the Church to hold fast 
the form of sound words, guard with more 
sedulous care against the introduction of un- 
sound men and unsound doctrines, shake oflf 
her apathy and sloth, and do her duty to the 
world, and to God. 

Having completed this part of the original 
plan, designed to be pursued in these exercises, 
I intend this evening to direct your attention 
to another striking feature of the age in which 
we live — a sign which has left a deep and 
broad mark upon our times, and exercised no 
small influence on the cause of God, as w^ell as 
on many other important interests. I mean, 

VII. The spirit of fanaticism. 

It will probably not be denied, that there has 
seldom, if ever, been an age when the human 



192 LECTURE VIII. 

mind has been more unsettled and restless than 
the present. Principles, which for ages had 
been thought to be well defined and thoroughly- 
settled, have been called in question, and, in 
connexion with it, the human mind has re- 
ceived an impulse which has carried it forward 
with a rapidity which would formerly have 
been contemplated with amazement, and with 
fear for the consequences. Such, however, 
have been the nature and extent of the changes 
wrought, that they are looked upon as mere 
common-place events. 

To what period to assign the impulse, of 
which I have spoken, may not be an easy mat- 
ter — nor may it be more easy to settle the sub- 
ject which gave occasion to it. It may, how- 
ever, be assumed as a fact, that if no novel 
principles, as to human rights and civil govern- 
ment, were broached by the fathers of our 
Revolution, that they received a development, 
and acquired a practical importance which 
they never knew before, and they have, ever 
since, been exercising a mighty influence on 
the mind of man and the civil institutions of 
the world. Previous to this period, while his 
Holiness of Rome was reposing on his downy 
cushions in the Vatican, and resting after his 
long contest with the Reformers — and the po- 
tentates of Europe were pursuing their schemes 



FANATICISM. 193 

of politics and war, as if all the interests of all 
mankind were involved in them — a set of men, 
who were, seemingly, quietly devoted to litera- 
ture, science, or pleasure, had either reasoned 
or lived themselves into scepticism, now set 
their worldly wisdom in array against all es- 
tabhshed institutions, and produced the infi- 
delity, and the wars, and revolutions which il- 
lustrated the latter years of the last century, 
when, events enough, civil, intellectual, moral, 
and religious, to fill up ages, were crowded into 
a few years. 

I will add, and it has by no means been un- 
important, or without its influence, that, previ- 
ous to the middle of the last century, true reli- 
gion itself has received an impulse, to which it 
had for a long time been a stranger. The fer- 
vours of the Reformation had subsided; the 
great doctrine of Hfe- — justification by faith, 
through the imputed righteousness of Christ, 
had slept, or been abandoned ; and religion it- 
self, even among Protestants, had degenerated 
into form, when, the whole subject received a 
fresh impetus, both in Great Britain and Ame- 
rica, which it has never lost. The fruits have 
been seen and felt in every part of the world, 
as they have developed themselves in the en- 
largement of the Church, and in the operation 
of Bible, Missionary, Tract, and Education So- 

17 



194 LECTUREVIII. 

cieties. An equal degree of zeal and activity 
for the propagation of the Gospel, and the 
amelioration of the condition of our race, has 
rarely been witnessed. 

Such have been the nature and extent of the 
changes which have taken place, and such the 
spirit of the age in which we live, that the fond 
anticipation has been indulged that the latter 
day glory had already arrived, and the subjec- 
tion of the world to the cross of Christ would 
scarcely require a struggle. It requires not 
the ken of a prophet to tell that these antici- 
pations are doomed to disappointment. The 
anticipations of men have been as extreme as 
their principles and practices — and this has 
been one of the species of tares which the ad- 
versary has sown in this field, otherwise so pro- 
mising. The age in which we live is one of 
extremes. It has proved ultra or fanatical in 
almost every thing. The impulse has carried 
men beyond the mark. Every thing of which 
they have taken hold has been magnified be- 
yond its just proportions, if not beyond its 
true dimensions, and thus received an impor- 
tance to which it was not entitled. The mind 
has dwelt intently on a single object, or it has 
brought that object so near to the eye, that it 
has appeared to be single and alone in the 
world. Whereas, if it had been placed in an- 



FANATICISM. 195 

Other position, and at a little greater distance 
from the eye, its true as well as relative magni- 
tude could be better ascertained and deter- 
mined ; but then, if the mind had been labour- 
ing under a fond delusion with respect to it, it 
it would create a degree of pain to be unde- 
ceived. My hearers would think me in ex- 
tremes, if not in the extreme of madness, if I 
should tell them that the sun, the great orb of 
day, was not as large as a half dollar — and yet 
I can so place that little object as to hide the 
sun from my view. And so a matter, which, 
when viewed in its just proportions and rela- 
tions, shall be seen and felt to be of much less 
importance than another with which it may be 
compared, may become absorbing as the one 
thing needful when it is not only seen alone, 
but dwelt upon, commended and magnified. 
This I consider as a distinguishing character- 
istic of our age, and this I call fanaticism, and 
this I design more fully to illustrate in the re- 
mainder of this discourse. I have already in- 
timated that there is scarcely a department of 
business or life into which the spirit of excess 
has not been carried, and where its influence 
has not been felt. 

It has manifested itself in the various de- 
partments of business. These have been pur- 
sued, not for the purpose of affording men 



196 LECTURE VIII. 

healthful employment, and a decent living, but 
for the purpose of accumulating wealth ; and 
when the movement has not been a rapid one, 
it has been attended with an uneasy, restless, 
discontented spirit, which has watched every 
opportunity of change, and rushed after every 
gilded phantom which a wild imagination has 
raised up before the mind. Men have not only 
grown impatient of the slow avails of honest, 
persevering industry, and dissatisfied with the 
prospect of a w^ell earned competence, enough 
to satisfy a well balanced and contented mind, 
but they have gathered up all, and embarked 
it on the tempestuous ocean of speculation* 
Nothing would serve them but to be suddenly 
rich. Of the dangers of failure, or the ship- 
wreck of conscience, they have made no more 
account than they have of the eflfect it would 
be likely to produce on their minds in unfitting 
them for sober business, or rational enjoyment, 
or on the character, comfort, and prospects 
of their families, or on the fortunes of those 
with whom business may have connected them. 
Such things as these are scarcely worthy of a 
thought in the " nineteenth century,'' and unne- 
cessary clogs to "the march of mind." The 
man has made up his mind to be rich, and sud- 
denly^ rich, and if ninety-nine out of every 
hundred who have made the attempt upon the 



FANATICISM. 197 

same principle, have failed, you cannot con- 
vince him that he will not be the hundredth 
man in the next class of adventurers. And if 
an equal proportion have made shipwreck of 
faith and a good conscience in making the at- 
tempt, it would be no easy matter to convince 
him that it is a difficult thing for a rich man to 
enter into the kingdom of heaven, or for a man 
whose mind has been soured and corroded by 
worldly losses and disappointments to turn his 
attention at once, and with interest, to the sub- 
ject of religion. A divine oracle would fail to 
work the conviction in him. This is the spirit 
of our age, the spirit of our American youth — 
the Moloch upon whose altar so many precious 
souls are sacrificed. This, a year or two ago, 
filled the United States Treasury to overflow- 
ing from the sales of our western lands — built 
so many cities in the wilderness, on paper — 
fattened the soil of Louisiana with the dead 
bodies of the prime young men of our coun- 
try, and which God has recently so terribly re- 
buked. Is it misnamed, "the fanaticism of 
cupidity ?" 

The spirit has other forms, and other names. 
It is a universal intermeddler. It will let no- 
thing alone. Nothing good or holy can engage 
the attention of men, but it rushes in, and en- 
deavours to appropriate it to itself. It is not 

17* 



198 LE C T UR E VIII. 

many years since a moral leprosy came to the 
aid of original sin, and threatened an almost 
universal destruction. It was at deadly strife 
with property, health, all the comforts of domes- 
tic life, all the hallowed influences of the social 
principle and relations, human life, and the sal- 
vation of mens' souls. It w as fast peopling the 
grave and hell with its victims. It was rapidly 
extending the circle of its deadly influence. 
The rich and the poor, the high and the low, 
the old and the young, were its victims. The 
farmer and the mechanic, the young man and 
the maiden, the husband and the wife, the pa- 
rent and the child, the statesman, the lawyer, 
the physician, the Christian, the deacon, the 
elder, the minister of the everlasting Gospel, 
all, all, were among its victims. It acted as a 
slow poison. It was an insidious enemy. It 
often came as an angel of light, a minister of 
health, a handmaid of hospitality. And the 
malady was the more deadly, because it well 
nigh paralysed the medicine of life, the Gospel 
of the grace of God. 

Philosophers, physicians, philanthropists, pa- 
triots. Christians, ministers of the everlasting 
Gospel, all mourned over the wide spreading 
evil, and mourned almost without hope. It was 
the sin of intemperance. This was the name 
of the foul fiend. A simple remedy was ap- 



FANATICISM. ^ 199 

plied. The union of the friends of man in a 
public pledge to abstain from alcoholic drinks. 
Blessed be the man into whose mind the happy- 
thought first entered. His race have known 
few greater benefactors. In this, as in every- 
thing else, union creates strength. O, what 
wonders has the development of this principle 
wrought; what happy changes have we wit- 
nessed; what victories over beastly and soul 
destroying appetites. But the arch fiend en- 
vied man, and grace, and God, such a victory- — 
and flew to the rescue, and sowed dissension in 
the camp, and sought to sever from the brother- 
hood its best friends, upon whom, under God, 
its dearest hopes will be found to rest. I mean 
the covenanted friends of Christ. But how? 
By seeking to exalt temperance, a single 
branch of Gospel morality, above religion 
itself; thus making it of more worth than that 
which makes us meet for heaven — constituting 
the temperance pledge a test of Christian 
character and church communion, a rule un- 
known to the Church and word of God — and 
establishing it as a principle that any use of 
wine, no matter how small the quantity, is a 
sin ; of course, banishing it from the Table of 
the Lord, although the Saviour himself has 
made it a symbol of that blood which was 
shed for the remission of sin. These assurap- 



200 LECTURE VIII. 

tions Christians have never beUeved, and to 
these principles they can never submit. The 
urging of these points, often in intemperate and 
abusive terms, has made many a Christian 
pause, and caused many a man who tasted no 
intoxicating drink, to withhold his name from 
the temperance pledge, and the public support 
of a cause which was dearer to him than his 
life. Thus has Satan succeeded in making the 
real friends of Christ, the seeming enemies of 
the cause of temperance. And thus has the 
spirit of fanaticism injured a cause which every 
good man must love. Let me say to Chris- 
tians, beware how you withhold yourselves 
from the support of a cause, so important and 
good in itself, on account of the folly, or even 
wickedness, of its professed friends. And to 
all others I say, you may be never so tempe- 
rate, and lose your soul. Temperance is not 
religion. 

Again, the operation of this spirit may also 
be seen in the views which are entertained, and 
the conduct which is pursued with respect to hu- 
man rights. Probably no people on earth have 
ever better understood the principles of civil 
and religious liberty, or been more strongly 
attached to them, than the inhabitants of these 
United States. This has led them earnestly to 
desire that all other nations may possess insti- 



FANATICISM. 201 

tutions similar to our own, to hail with joy 
every approximation to it, and to anticipate 
with confidence the near approach of the day 
when it shall take place. This may all be 
right and proper, but it is both foolish and fa- 
natical to suppose all nations, however igno- 
rant and degraded, are capable of forming, 
maintaining, and enjoying institutions equally 
free and happy, or that we have a call in Di- 
vine Providence to interfere with them. Upon 
such, the examples of France, Spain, and the 
Mexican and South American States, are lost. 
They are incapable of perceiving the necessary 
connexion which exists between civil liberty, 
and intelhgence and virtue. France and Spain 
have receded. The cry of liberty and equality 
has died on the ear, and the revolutions to the 
south of us have followed each other like the 
waves of a troubled ocean, whose agitated 
waters are continually casting up mire and 
dirt. So wild are a portion of the American 
people on the subject, that it has more than 
once required all the wisdom, and vigilance, 
and energy of our government, to restrain the 
people from hurrying us into a foreign war. 

And free and happy as our institutions are, 
leaving the wise and good nothing to desire on 
the subject but a sufficiency of intelligence and 
virtue to enjoy, and preserve our immunities 



202 LECTURE VIII. 

and privileges, and hearts to adore and praise 
the giver of every good and perfect gift, there 
are many in our land, who, impatient of all 
restraint, would prostrate the very institutions 
and laws by which our liberty and privileges 
are secured and maintained. Witness the ra- 
vings of a foreign profligate female in a neigh- 
bouring city on the day of sacred rest, and the 
thousands who follow and applaud her. This, 
however, is a mere drop in the bucket ; the 
wild vapourings of infidelity and agrarianism in 
a state of combination — and will serve to show 
how exceedingly foolish men can be when they 
adopt the abominable absurdity that there is no 
God. Perhaps the following specimen, select- 
ed from the proceedings of the peace conven- 
tion, composed of men and women, laymen and 
clergymen, convened at Boston on the 18th of 
September last, may more fully illustrate the 
subject. The second article of their constitu- 
tion reads thus : " The members of this society 
agree in opinion, that no man, or body of men, 
however constituted, or by whatever name 
called, have the right to take the life of man 
as a penalty for transgression; that no one 
who professes to have the Spirit of Christ, can 
consistently sue a man at law for redress of inju- 
ries, or thrust any evil doer into prison, or fill 
any office in which he would come under obli- 



FANATICISM. 203 

gation to execute penal enactments — or take any 
part in the military service — or acknowledge al- 
legiance to any human government — or justify 
any man in fighting in defence of property, 
liberty, life, or religion — that he cannot engage 
in or countenance any plot or effort to revolu- 
tionize, or change, by physical violence, any 
government, however corrupt or oppressive; 
that he will obey the powders that be, except in 
those cases in which they bid him violate his 
conscience; and then, rather than resist, he 
will meekly submit to the penalty of disobe- 
dience ; and that, while he will cheerfully en- 
dure all things for Christ's sake, without 
cherishing even the desire to inflict injury upon 
his persecutor, yet he will be bold and un- 
compromising for God, in bearing his testi- 
mony against sin, in high places, and in low 
places, until righteousness and peace shall reign 
in all the earth, and there shall be none to mo- 
lest or make afraid." 

If any doubt could exist, as to the meaning 
of the foregoing article, the following " declara- 
tion of sentiment," accompanying it, would re- 
move it : " We cannot acknowledge allegiance 
to any human government" — " We love the 
land of our nativity only as we love all other 
lands" — " No resistance ought to be offered to 
domestic troublers of the peace, or of private 



204 LECTURE VIII. 

security'' — " We, therefore, voluntarily exclude 
ourselves from every legislative and judicial 
body, and repudiate all human politics, worldly 
honours, and stations of authority : if we can- 
not occupy a seat in the legislature, or on the 
bench, neither can we elect others to act as 
our substitutes in any such capacity." My 
hearers, what shall we call all this? These are 
the enactments and declarations of American 
citizens, many of them well educated men and 
women, some of them professing Christians, 
and even clergymen. Are these the deduc- 
tions of right reason, or Christian intelligence; 
or are they the wild ravings of hair-brained, 
moon-stricken fanatics? 

Whatever they are, they are the results of 
the wisdom of the men who are agitating the 
country with the subject of anti-slavery, or mo- 
dern abohtionism. Of this institution, to some 
of whose doings I have directed your atten- 
tion, Lloyd Garrison is the Corresponding Sec- 
retary, and the Rev. H. C. Wright, a leading 
member. So that, the same spirit actuates 
both bodies, and the same results may be ex- 
pected from their doings. The association 
would, at once, destroy all law and govern- 
ment, with every connected institution, civil 
and religious, and call it, carrying out the prin- 
ciples of peace; and the latter is labouring 



FANATICISM. 205 

hard to subvert the constitution of the country, 
and break up the Union of the States, by in- 
flaming the passions of men, and exciting the 
bitter feehngs and angry passions of one por- 
tion of our countrymen against another, for 
the purpose of attaining an object which, by 
such means, is either utterly hopeless, or at- 
tainable only by the slaughter of one-half of 
the inhabitants of our country. The effect, 
thus far, has been, only to excite a great deal 
of angry feelings, abridge the privileges of 
those for whose benefit they professed to act, 
increased the friends of slavery, deadened the 
sympathy which was felt in our land for the 
African race, and not improbably postponed, 
for a long time, the day of emancipation. 

But, when was the spirit of fanaticism wise? 
When was a blind zeal ever known to form 
judicious plans, or to take prudent or practical 
measures for their accomplishment? If their 
motives were never so good and holy at the 
start, they might very easily, and probably 
would, become so heated in the chase as to 
become reckless; and others, as destitute of 
principle as of sound discretion, would, by 
their zeal, be attracted to them, and rush on 
Avith them, and the cause would very soon 
cease to have the excuse even of good motives 
to sanctify it. This, I apprehend, has, to a 

18 



206 LECTURE VIII. 

considerable extent, become the case with anti- 
slavery, by attempting to unite with the poli- 
tics of the day. Let the wise and the good, 
who love their country and its institutions, be 
on their guard against every fanatical move- 
ment, and, withal, their own spirits! The 
greater watchfulness and care are necessary, 
because religion itself has been attempted to 
be drawn into this vortex, and the principles of 
modern abolitionism have been sought to be 
made a test of Christian character and reli- 
gious fellowship. It is one of the wedges 
which has been applied to spUt the Presbyte- 
rian Church in two, as well as dissever the 
union of these States ; and in this form, and 
with these sentiments as good as avowed, it 
deserves, and should receive, the pointed con- 
demnation of all who feel the importance of 
truth and order, in Church or State. 

It would be strange, my hearers, if such a 
spirit, in such an age as the present, when the 
human mind has become so restless, and when 
the very dictates of the Holy Spirit are said to 
be improvable by human wisdom, had not in- 
truded itself directly into the concerns of reli- 
gion. Perhaps it might reasonably have been 
expected. It has accordingly taken place. 
There has seldom been an age, when errors in 
principle and practice have had a more rapid 



FANATICISM. 207 

growth and wide-spread. I refer not now to 
the rise and spread of Unitarianism, in the 
eastern part of our country. That is a sys- 
tem which has not vitahty enough to excite 
either the feehngs or the imaginations of men. 
It aims at arrogating to itself the learning, 
philosophy, and politeness of the age. It is a 
" dead sea," whose heavy waters no winds ap- 
pear to be capable of raising into waves. 

I allude to the system of error, which has 
falsified the true nature of the atonement, de- 
nied, substantially, original sin, and with it, the 
views which the Scriptures give us of the na- 
ture and necessity of the Spirit's operations in 
regeneration, substituting for them the self- 
determining power of the human will, under 
the exciting influences of protracted meetings, 
strong appeals to the principles of self-love, 
duty, and the supposed ability which men pos- 
sess to change their own hearts, anxious-seats, 
and other human machinery — means, by which 
great excitements have been produced, many 
souls have been introduced into the Church, 
and high hopes raised concerning the enlarge- 
ment and glory of Zion, but which, as the 
event has proved, has served to fill the Church 
with unsound members, almost destroyed the 
eflfect of the ordinary and stated ministrations 
of the Word and ordinances, rendered the pas- 



208 LECTURE VIII. 

toral office well nigh useless, given a fitful 
character to religion, and made the Church, 
where it has had its fiiUest influence, like a fo- 
rest through which a devouring fire has passed. 
" By their fruits," says the blessed Saviour, 
"ye shall know them: Do men gather grapes 
of thorns, or figs of thistles?" There was in 
all this, hfe, and activity, and zeal. Masses 
of men, in whole districts of country, were not 
only moved, but agitated. Astonishing eflfects 
were wrought. But there was little of the 
meekness, gentleness, and humility of Christ, 
even where there was evidence of a radical 
change, and, more commonly, it soon became 
manifest, that much of it was the mere eflfect 
of sympathy, or the formation of a stern reso- 
lution to be religious, very much apart from all 
real conviction of sinfulness, and that work 
of the Holy Spirit, by which men are created 
anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. Nor 
need these things be wondered at, if it be true, 
as is said, that men can get such movements 
up at their pleasure, and change " their gov- 
erning purpose" at will. Of these things, in 
forms somewhat modified and varied, our age 
and country have seen, heard, and felt much. 
It is no diflScult thing to obtain believers, ad- 
mirers, and followers for any system of doc- 
trine or practice, be it never so contrary, 



FANATICISM. 209 

not only to God's well-attested, revealed will, 
but the best established principles of experi- 
ence, and the common sense of mankind. 
And, what ought to excite no small degree of 
wonder, if any of the vagaries of fanaticism 
are to be wondered at, men will receive them 
without evidence as divine, and stake their 
eternal all on them, who will believe nothing 
which the Bible teaches, although it be attested 
by miracles wrought, by prophecies fulfilled, by 
the phenomena of nature, by the history of na- 
tions, by the wants and maladies of human na- 
ture, and the experience of millions of our race. 
They prefer the very dreams and wild imagi- 
nations of Mormonism to these, however well 
attested. Nothing is too absurd to be be- 
lieved and practiced. My hearers, " the times 
are out of joint," and this is one of the moral 
maladies of the day. Every thing has felt it, 
and every thing has been injured by it. And 
religion has not been among the least sufferers 
by it. What will render it difficult of cure is, 
that men hold the dreams of their wild imagi- 
nations to be the highest dictates of wisdom. 
The ship is afloat, and loosed from her moor- 
ings, with every sail set, and filled, but, alas! 
she is destitute of ballast, rudder, compass, and 
pilot, and, if we had no divine security, the 
voyage would be hopeless, 

18^ 



210 L E CTUR E VIII. 

What shall we do in such a case? What 
can we do but repudiate the dreams and imagi- 
nations of men, and get back as fast as possi- 
ble to the principles of sober sense, and re- 
vealed truth. When they cry, "Lo! here is 
Christ, or, lo! there,'' let us not go after them. 
" We have, also, a more sure word of prophecy, 
whereunto, ye do well to take heed, as unto 
a light that shineth in a dark place." A con- 
stant, humble, prayerful regard to the plain, un- 
sophisticated testimonies of God's word, will 
be an admirable safeguard against the sophis- 
tries and delusive imaginations, with which 
multitudes are deceiving themselves, and en- 
dangering others. This will preserve us from 
being carried about by every wind of doctrine^ 
by the sleight of men^ and cunning craftiness^ 
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And then, 
too, we shall be able to follow the direction of 
the Apostle John. "Beloved, believe not every 
spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of 
God; because many false prophets are gone 
out into the world." This is now as true as it 
was when John wrote. But it is equally true, 
that false doctrines, and lying spirits, may be 
detected, by bringing them to the law and the 
testimony; and that the man whose heart is 
deeply imbued with the love of the truth, and 
makes the word of God the man of his coun- 



FANATICISM. 211 

sel, and the guide of his Ufe, will not very 
easily be led astray. Let him only be rooted 
and grounded in the love and truth of God, 
and he shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot 
be removed. 

We may, from this, readily perceive why a 
restless, fanatical spirit has obtained such a 
wide currency, and exercised such an exten- 
sive influence in the present day. The minds 
of men have been empty. They have had 
a very imperfect and superficial acquaintance 
with the word of God. They have not made 
the holy oracles their own, by meditation and 
reflection. They have devoured every thing 
indiscriminately, and digested nothing, and the 
consequence has been, that they have not 
grown in the grace and knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And, what 
is worse, they are proud of their folly, and 
have proved it by calling the present, " the age 
of action" — as if the whole of religion con- 
sisted in action; or, as if there could be any 
correct, consistent action which was not based 
on principle, and guided by knowledge. Men 
have run before they were called, and, when 
questioned on the subject, have been unable to 
give a reason of the hope that is in them. 
They have adopted their own notions as the 
doctrines of Christ, and the practices which 



212 LECTURE VIII. 

they found to produce the most visible effects, 
as the best calculated to benefit the souls of 
men, because they were strangers to the nature 
and necessity of the Spirit's influences, as 
taught in the sacred Scriptures; and others, 
who ought to have known better, and who 
probably did know better, deceived by what 
they heard and saw, and not taking time to 
test the effects, by time and the word of God, 
were led to follow in the train, for fear of be- 
ing found fighting against God. The evil will 
never be cured till Christians become careful 
and diligent students of God's word, and, with 
meekness, humility, and reverence, derive both 
their principles and practices from its simple 
teachings. 

Again: If you would avoid the spirit, 
against which I have endeavoured to warn 
you, think and reflect much on divine things, 
with fervent prayer to God that he would give 
you a right understanding of his word, and 
your duty. A thoughtful, reflecting mind, is 
never a hght and trifling one, carried away, 
headlong, by the passions of the heart, or the 
dreams and imaginations of an ill-furnished 
head. The fanatic rarely thinks, or, if he 
does, it is seldom to much purpose. He is al- 
ways in a hurry. Like Jehu, he driveth furi- 
ously; and, hke him, a stranger to the love 



FANATICISM. 213 

and knowledge of God, he is apt to cry, 
"Come, see my zeal for the Lord." The 
Apostle Paul bore witness of the Jews of his 
day : " That they had a zeal of God, but not 
according to knowledge." And what was the 
consequence? They crucified the Lord of 
glory, and persecuted his followers. They 
took counsel of their passions. They were 
fanatics. Thought and reflection would have 
allayed these cruel and wicked passions, and 
kept them in abeyance. 

Finally: Let it not be taken for granted, 
that these views of truth and duty are opposed 
to zeal and activity in the Lord's service, or, 
that they will furnish an excuse for sloth and 
idleness, and warrant a man to sit down, and 
fold his hands to sleep. Whatever others may 
think on the subject, it is no part of my mean- 
ing. If there be any one subject, which has 
a just claim to occupy every power, both of 
head and heart, it is the subject of religion. 
There is enough in it, personally considered, 
to furnish a full warrant for the exhortation, 
" Work out your own salvation with fear and 
trembling." There is enough in the state and 
danger of sinners to make every Christian feel 
as Jeremiah did, when he cried, " O that my 
head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of 
tears, that I might weep day and night for the 



214 LECTURE VIII. FANATICISM. 

slain of the daughter of my people!" Paul 
did not press the subject beyond its just and 
proper bounds, when he said to the Corin- 
thians, "Now, then, we are ambassadors for 
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; 
we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye recon- 
ciled to God.'' Every child of God, as well as 
every minister of the Gospel, should be, not 
only a shining^ but a burning light. His un- 
derstanding should be full of divine light, and 
his heart of divine love. His soul, body, and 
spirit should be the Lord's. This, however, 
may be, and yet the man be at an infinite re- 
move from cold-hearted, inconsistent fanati- 
cism. The one resembles an eccentric comet, 
wandering in the sky; while the path of the 
other, is as "the shining light, that shineth 
more and more, even unto the perfect day." 
So may all, who professedly belong to the 
Lord, speedily become, and the reproach of 
Zion be forever wiped away ! 



LECTURE IX. 

SLAVERY. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 

CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

The last " sign of the times'' which was passed 
in review by us, was " the spirit of fanati- 
cism." By this was understood, " a tendency 
to carry every thing with which we have any 
thing to do to extremes, or beyond their just 
and proper bounds." And this we have shown 
to have arisen partly, from viewing objects or 
subjects singly and alone, and dwelling upon 
them till our imagination magnified them into 
supreme importance. And partly from that 
restlessness of spirit by which the present age 
has been characterized and illustrated. Its 
rise was connected with the religious and po- 
litical movements of the last century. 

The subject was considered — 1st. As it has 
manifested itself in the various departments of 
business and gain. 2d. With respect to the 
temperance cause. 3d. With respect to hu- 



216 LECTURE IX. 

man rights, as illustrated by the " Peace'' and 
"Anti-Slavery Societies." And 4th, its influ- 
ence on the interests of religion. That such a 
spirit existed, and was exercising an extensive 
and deleterious influence on every subject and 
interest with which it had commingled itself, 
was proved and illustrated. It was also shown 
that it was the duty of all who loved their coun- 
try, and all who took an interest in the preser- 
vation of truth and order, and the welfare of 
our race, to watch against the influence of this 
spirit. If it is permitted to prevail, it will 
sweep away every thing which is valuable in 
the civil institutions of our country, destroy 
the hopes which the friends of civil liberty 
have entertained concerning the experiment 
which we are now making on the subject, fulfil 
the predictions of its enemies, and overturn 
some of the fairest hopes of the friends of re- 
ligion. From this it results that the friends 
of truth and order should possess their souls in 
patience, guard against the influence of this 
spirit, and when this enemy comes in like a 
flood, pray fervently and importunately to Him 
who has the hearts of all men in his hands, and 
can turn them at his will, that he may say to 
the waves of this raging flood — thus far shall 
ye come and no farther. Our ultimate hope 
must be in God. Men may raise this spirit, 



SLAVERY. 217 

but they can neither govern it, nor lay it. 
The 

VIII. Sign of the times to which your at- 
tention will be directed is one which involves 
the interest of our beloved country to a greater 
extent than any one which we have as yet con- 
templated. How we can avoid looking at it, 
and feeling with respect to it the deepest sohci- 
tude, it is difficult to conjecture. I allude to 
the subject of Slavery — a subject which has 
deeply agitated the public mind, and which, in 
one way or other, mingles itself with the dear- 
ests interests of our beloved country. It is a 
subject which requires the wisest and calmest 
consideration, on which, if men take counsel 
of their passions, they will be sure to be led 
astray, and be in danger of producing results 
which they will be sure to regret, but cannot 
change. No man who is reckless of conse- 
quences, who is not capable of weighing with 
wise caution the probable effects which impor- 
tant causes are likely to produce in such a 
country as ours, who is not well acquainted 
with the character of the American people, the 
nature of our civil institutions, the relations 
, which the various parts of our country sustain 
to each other, and the duties which arise out 
of them; who does not sincerely love his coun- 
try, who does not possess a meek and quiet 

19 



218 LEG TUR E IX. 

spirit, or who is not in a good degree capable 
of governing his own spirit, should suffer him- 
self to agitate such a subject at such a time. 

I may be asked, why caH it up? Not sim- 
ply because it is a sign of the times, and a por- 
tentous and agitating one too, but from the 
very difficulties and dangers by which it is sur- 
rounded, to induce, persuade, and beseech my 
countrymen, and especially the followers of the 
meek and lowly Jesus, to give it that calm, de- 
liberate, and prayerful consideration which its 
high importance demands. The interests which 
are involved in it are neither few nor small. 
They will be found to bear with tremendous 
weight on all our institutions, civil and religious, 
and on the eternal welfare of millions of im- 
mortal souls. There are difficulties connected 
with this subject, my hearers, from which no- 
thing but the wisdom and grace of God can de- 
liver us. And these difficulties have for the 
last few years been increasing upon us at a 
most fearful and appalling rate. 

Pity and sympathy for the African race are 
not of recent date in our country. Before the 
men who, for the last five or six years, have 
figured the most prominently in their behalf, 
were known to think or feel on the subject, 
there were philanthropists and Christians who 
not only felt and prayed for this unhappy race 



SLATERY. 219 

of men, but were silently and efficiently exert- 
ing themselves to benefit them, with a prospect 
and hope which I fear will not exist again for 
a long time to come. I wish my hearers to 
listen to, and remember, what I am about say- 
ing. These men believed themselves to have 
received in good faith from the prominent pub- 
lic men of the South, a satisfactory assurance 
of the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia, by the action of Congress at a speci- 
fied time then near at hand ; and I have no 
doubt the plan would have been carried into 
eflfect, but for the alarm occasioned by the sud- 
den rush, and intemperate and abusive publica- 
tions made at the time, by those who now 
claim to be the exclusive friends of the cause. 
This I fully believe. Nay, I know the promi- 
nent actors in it, and have good reason to 
believe that they would have been successful 
in it. 

At the same time also, Virginia and Mary- 
land were prepared to have passed laws which 
would have terminated slavery in those States 
during the present generation; and Kentucky 
and Missouri would have followed the example, 
if they had not led the way, for public senti- 
ment in the latter State was so nearly equally 
balanced, that a feather would have turned the 
scale in favour of emancipation. In that case, 



220 LECTURE IX, 

North Carolina and Tennessee could scarcely 
have failed to follow the example soon. This 
would have given a prodigious preponderance, 
both moral and political, to the non-slavehold- 
ing States, which would at once have hindered 
the introduction of slavery into any new States 
which might have been formed, and probably 
have insured its extinguishment in the remain- 
ing States within a comparatively short period. 
I thus judge from the facts, that many in those 
States were beginning to look upon it as a 
moral evil from which it was necessary to be 
dehvered, and from which they were devising 
means to dehver themselves. Is it not reason- 
able to suppose, that with such feehngs on the 
subject, they would have sought and found 
facilities of emancipation, and that with perfect 
freedom to speak and write on the subject, such 
sentiments would have diffused themselves 
widely ? This would especially have been 
the case, if, as is believed, this sentiment is 
connected with the religious principle. 

This promising state of things, however, un- 
happily, no longer exists. The prospect which 
appeared to be opening before us, no longer pre- 
sents the same aspect. Dark and gloomy clouds 
have gathered over it, and whether they will be 
dissipated, or grow darker, and burst in a tem- 
pest, is known only to Him who knows the end 



SLAVERY. 221 

from the beginning, has the hearts of all men 
in his hand, and can turn them, even as . the 
rivers of water. The subject is of such im- 
portance as to commend itself to the serious 
and prayerful regard of every friend of God 
and his country. Look at it, and judge for 
yourselves whether we attach too much impor- 
tance to it. 

Our country probably contains about sixteen 
millions of inhabitants. Our rise and progress 
have been wonderful. God has given us a 
noble land. He has exercised over us a be- 
nign and gracious providence. He has bes- 
towed upon us the happiest institutions, and 
accommodated them to our circumstances — 
and we have reason to say, " He hath not dealt 
so with any people." In an evil hour, our mo- 
ther country introduced slavery among us, I 
believe I may say, against the will of our fa- 
thers. We had it on our hands at the Revolu- 
tion. It has, unfortunately, been perpetuated, 
though not in unison with our institutions; and 
it has grown with our growth to its present 
magnitude. There are, probably, now in our 
country, well nigh three millions of Africans 
or their descendants, more than two millions 
of whom are in a state of involuntary servi- 
tude. Nearly all the slaves, and a very con- 
siderable proportion of those who are free, are 

19* 



222 LECTURE IX. 

entirely destitute of education, and, to a very- 
great extent, destitute also of the appliances of 
religion. 

The slaves of course are destitute of pro- 
perty, and cannot legally hold any. Nor have 
they any direct interest in the institutions of 
our country. Comparatively few of those who 
are free, are possessed of property enough to 
render their earthly circumstances comfortable. 
In several of the States, they are deprived of 
the common rights of citizenship, and where 
this is not the case, they cannot exercise it 
with facility and comfort. In addition to this, 
they are without many of the incentives to im- 
provement and well-doing which are common 
to the rest of the inhabitants of our country. 
They have scarcely any facihties for acquiring 
any thing more than a common-school educa- 
tion; and if they had, they are almost shut out 
from any sphere in which they could exercise 
an improved intellect. It is a very rare thing 
to find one of them in the medical profession; 
with that of the law they never meddle; and 
few of them are ministers of the Gospel. Nor 
is there a civil office of profit or trust which is 
open to them. Such, too, is the state of so- 
ciety, that in no part of our land can they en- 
ter into the social relations upon that footing 
of equality, which gives to those relations their 



SLAVERY. 223 

highest charm, and makes them so productive 
of comfort and elevation. 

This is the case with those of them who are 
free, and more strikingly so with those who 

I are in a state of slavery ; and, if they were 
emancipated, it would still be so. This state 
of things exists, whatever be its cause, and ex- 
perience and observation teach us, that it will 
be no light or easy thing to produce a change. 
You may call it a prejudice, or a sin — such are 
its practical influence and force that it will not 
be easily removed, and, certainly, not by call- 
ing it by hard names. 

There exist, then, in our land, two distinct 
races of men, who do not differ from each other 
more widely in their colour, than they do in 

I their circumstances — and these are of no com- 
mon importance. One of them, has very little 
interest in the institutions of our country; and 
the great body of them are illy qualified to en- 
joy them. We have already seen, that even 
those of them who are free lack many of the 
inducements and facilities to well-doing, and 
elevation in the intellectual and social scale, 
which are common to the whole white race. 
With those who are in a state of slavery, 
these facilities and inducements are still less. 
They are aliens in the land in which they dwell, 



224 LECTURE IX. 

and feel themselves to be, for a long time to 
come, in a state of degradation, recovery from 
which will be a very difficult thing. 

Those of them who are free, very naturally 
desire to be placed, in every respect, on a foot- 
ing of perfect equality with the whites; and those 
who are in a state of slavery, as naturally desire 
to enjoy freedom; and, if they believe that these 
immunities are improperly or unjustly withheld 
from them, the desire will be greatly increased, 
and not improbably connected with impatient 
and exacerbated feelings. 

We have, then, in the midst of us, nearly 
three millions of people, who are aliens to the 
remaining twelve or thirteen millions, the body 
of whom are destitute of property, of educa- 
tion, and of civil rights; who have received 
very little moral culture; who have been 
brought up in such a state of dependence as 
never to have relied upon their own resources 
or exertions for support, and therefore are as 
ignorant as children, of that practical econo- 
my so necessary to conduct, advantageously, 
the most ordinary concerns of life, nor less ig- 
norant of the nature and operation of our civil 
and political institutions. The man, who can 
see no difficulties and dangers in this state of 
things, deeply affecting the interest and welfare 



SLAVERY, 225 

of our beloved country, has very little claim to 
discernment — has viewed the subject through a 
very deceptive medium. 

What can be done to relieve the subject of 
its distressing aspects? Say some, raise the 
free at once to a perfect social and civil equa- 
hty. This is easily said, but not so easily 
done. Such is the state of society, that it Avill 
require a long time, and great changes in pub- 
lic sentiment, before their most sanguine friends 
can hope to see them mingling, freely and 
equally, in the civil and political affairs of our 
country. Whatever may have given rise to 
the sentiment which excludes them, it exists; 
and observation proves, that it will not be 
easily changed. You may call it an unreason- 
able prejudice. But prejudices are not often 
easily overcome. Call it, if you please, a sin. 
It is frequently a difficult thing to bring men to 
repentance. It will be still more difficult, to 
change their social relations. Were it practi- 
cally attempted, those who made the attempt, 
instead of elevating them, would degrade them- 
selves. The subject has more difficulties con- 
nected with it than enthusiasts have ever ima- 
gined. It will require many a cogent argu- 
ment, and many a persuasive plea, to produce 
the desired change. The modest, unobtrusive 



226 LECTURE IX. 

demeanour, and continued practical well-doing 
of the coloured race themselves, will go farther 
towards changing public sentiment in their fa- 
vour, and raising them in society, than all the 
laboured arguments, and angry, vituperative 
harangues of their — so called — friends, whose 
past efforts, I fear, have done them any thing 
but good. They mistake human nature. You 
cannot dragoon voluntary agents into kindly 
feeling or right action. 

The great difficulty, however, is found in the 
case of those who are still in a state of bon- 
dage. However desirable their emancipation 
may be, the case is surrounded with difficulties 
which it will not be easy to remove. The 
case cannot be touched by the General Gov- 
ernment. The right of holding slaves is guar- 
anteed to the States by the Constitution, and an 
attempt to touch it, even by the constitutional 
mode of changing its provisions, would dis- 
solve the Union into its elements, and blast the 
hopes which its establishment has raised. It 
would be almost a hopeless thing, at present, 
to procure an enactment, in any of the slave- 
holding States, which would give them a re- 
mote prospect of freedom, or even to permit 
individuals to emancipate them without an im- 
mediate removal from the country — and cir- 



SLAVERY. 227 

cumstances have well nigh led them to shut 
themselves out from the exercise of any influ- 
ence by which a change might be produced. 

But if these things were not so, still the case 
has difficulties of great magnitude connected 
with it, which are calculated deeply to affect 
the heart of the warmest friend of the race. 
Suppose their bonds were loosed this day! — 
that every one of them were to go out free! 
How would that affect them, and the commu- 
nity ? It would add two millions more to the 
number of those who would be oWiged to 
provide for themselves, all of them without pro- 
perty, or education, or moral culture, or provi- 
dence, or economy; and many of them, too, 
aged and infirm, or too young, to contribute 
to their own support; principally located in a 
part of the country where they would find it 
much more difficult to elevate themselves, than 
in portions of the land where slavery does not 
exist. It would take several generations, be- 
fore any considerable portion of them could be 
expected to raise themselves to any thing like 
an equality with the whites, in point of pro- 
perty or education; and it w^ould probably be 
longer still before the whites, having the power 
of the law in their ow^n hands, would consent 
to raise them to a civil and pohtical equaUty 
with themselves. On all these accounts, there 



228 LECTURE IX, 

would be a very great lack of means, as well 
as inducements, for the improvement of their 
state and worldly circumstances, which would 
necessarily prolong the season of their proba- 
tion and advancement — connected with heart- 
burnings, jealousies, and discontents, as well as 
much actual suffering from poverty and want, 
some of it arising unavoidably from their cir- 
cumstances, and no small part of it from idle- 
ness and improvidence. The experiment, if it 
were tried, even under the most favourable cir- 
cumstances, would prove, that the difficulties of 
the case are not imaginary. Skeptics may en- 
lighten themselves on the subject, if they will at- 
tentively study the moral and natural statistics 
of any of our large cities, where the people of 
colour are collected together in large numbers, 
or, who will walk our streets with an observant 
eye. It is a remarkable and instructive fact, 
that in places inhabited by whites, slaves, and 
free people of colour, the proportion of deaths 
is several per cent, greater among the free 
blacks than either among the whites or the 
slaves. The facts which I have mentioned, I 
have no doubt, furnish the solution. 

I mention these things, not as an argument 
against their emancipation, for I heartily desire 
it; nor, as being friendly to slavery, for I think 
it a very great evil, and not the least so to the 



SLAVERY, 229 

whites who Uve in the midst of it — but to 
show, to those who are driving at the object, 
without any regard to means or consequences, 
that the subject is not free from great difficul- 
ties, even in the most favourable light in which 
it can be placed. The difficulties of the case 
would be greatly increased, whenever their 
number should approximate that of the whites. 
Nor is the problem of easy solution as it re- 
gards the whites. The effect on them cannot 
be small. The change on their part will be 
great with respect to all' who have passed the 
season of infancy. It will affect very seriously 
all the habits of their lives, as well as their 
worldly circumstances. It will change their do- 
mestic and social relations, and will have no 
small influence on what they have been in the 
habit of esteeming their comforts. These, how- 
ever, are things which some either entirely over- 
look, or totally disregard. They consider the 
slave-holder, no matter how he became so, or 
what his character in other respects may be, no 
better than a Avild beast, who may be hunted 
from society, or a demon incarnate, of whom 
nothing but evil should be spoken. With such 
views, it would be no wonder if any interest 
which they may be supposed to have in the sub- 
ject, should be left entirely out of the question. 
And yet, so esteeming and treating them, they 

20 



230 LECTURE IX. 

professedly think it strange that they cannot 
bring them into their views by such means of 
conviction and persuasion ! Yet, they must be 
considered in connexion with the subject, and 
they will be, unless the change is to be brought 
about by the power of the sword. Their inte- 
rest and welfare are as fully and equitably enti- 
tled to consideration in the settlement of this 
question, as the other party. It would be as 
unjust to disregard them, as the most ardent 
abohtionist thinks it to hold a fellow creature in 
involuntary bondage. 

It is presumed to be evident that this subject 
is surrounded with practical difficulties on every 
side, in w^hatever light it may be viewed. How- 
ever easy some men' may think it to cut the 
knot, men of sober thought, and deep reflec- 
tion, do not find it so easy a matter to untie it. 
With as ardent a love of country, as kindly and 
sympathetic feelings for the slaves, and as high 
a regard for holiness and the divine will as re- 
vealed in the Sacred Scriptures, they cannot 
contemplate this subject without perplexity and 
alarm; and these grow upon them the more 
closely they contemplate it in the light cast 
upon it by the aspects of the times. 

What then are its present aspects ? There 
are at least two millions of bondmen in our 
country. Their condition is anomalous to our 



SLAVERY. 231 

institutions. They are degraded by bondage, 
poverty, ignorance, and public sentiment. They 
are unquahfied to enjoy our institutions, at pre- 
sent, even if they were free. Circumstances 
are unfavourable to their elevation to an equali- 
ty in the social and political scale. They no 
doubt feel their degradation, and anxiously de- 
sire to possess the privileges of which they are 
destitute. The whole number of their race 
among us is about one-fifth of our population. 
Those who are free are far from an equahty 
with the whites in advantages and privileges. 
They all feel it, and desire a change ; for who 
desires not to have his lot bettered ? 

Look next at the whites. A large majority 
of the American people believe slavery to be a 
very great moral and political evil. They sin- 
cerely wish that it never had existed in our 
country, and that we might be entirely freed 
from it. But when they came on the stage of 
action, they not only found it in existence, in- 
corporated with the domestic relations of a 
large part of our country, as it then was, but 
identified with the great bond of our political 
union, and dependent for its continuance on the 
action of the individual States. And they have 
seen it grow up to so enormous a magnitude, 
that they know not how to abate or remove it. 
They see evil and difficulty attending every 



232 LECTURE IX. 

view they can take of the subject; and they 
tremble with anxiety when they look at it. 

Not so another portion of the American peo- 
ple. They not only look at it as a great moral 
and political evil, the aspects of which are darkly 
frowning upon our country, but as the evil of 
all evils, and the sin of all sins, and therefore to 
be given up at once and for ever, no matter 
what consequences may flow from it. And 
hence no man connected with it, say they, shall 
be a minister of the Gospel, or a member of 
the Church of Christ, till he hath washed his 
hands clean of it; or in other words, that it 
is such a damnable heresy as to exclude a man 
from the kingdom of heaven, for whatever right- 
fully excludes a man from the visible Church, if 
not sincerely repented of, excludes from the 
more holy society of heaven. These principles 
are attempted to be carried out by enlisting the 
periodical press as extensively as possible in 
the cause, by the dissemination of pamphlets 
and books, by public meetings of various kinds, 
by the employment of agents, and especially 
public lecturers in great numbers, by flooding 
the national legislature with memorials from 
session to session, and by the action of ecclesi- 
astical assembhes and churches. 

The effect of all this has been to rouse the 
attention and call into exercise the angry feel- 



( 



SLAVERY. 233 

ings of the inhabitants of the slave-holding 
States ; to shut out from among them all per- 
sons and publications differing from the senti- 
ments which they hold on the subject ; to treat 
with abuse, and in some instances with lawless 
personal violence, those whom they have sus- 
pected of coming among them with designs 
hostile to slavery ; to deprive the slaves of the 
means of instruction afforded by Sabbath- 
schools, and of the Gospel itself, lest they 
should become more desirous of liberty, and 
better able to assert it ; to increase and fortify 
public sentiment in favour of slavery, and to 
postpone the hope of its abrogation. The 
question has also mingled itself with the poli- 
tics of the country, excited and increased sec- 
tional prejudices and difficulties, distracted our 
pubhc councils, and may endanger the peace 
and union of the States. 

The wise and good contemplate this state of 
things, not only with feelings of awe and 
solemnity, but with fear and trembhng. And 
they feel the deeper anxiety, when they see 
Christian men, and Christian ministers, under 
the influence of excited feelings, and reckless of 
consequences, rushing headlong, where angels 
would feel obliged to tread with caution. To 
them we seem to be standing over a mine 
which a single spark may cause to explode. 

20* 



234 LECTURE IX. 

Suppose this fire were kindled, who can tell 
how deep and broad the conflagration will be ? 
Who will count the slain, or calculate the loss ? 
What interest, civil or religious, will not suffer 
by it ? It will then be too late to mourn our 
folly. Let the antagonist principles which 
have for a few years past been arraying them- 
selves against each other, press each other a 
little harder, and who will avert the explosion? 
I have often wondered why God in his 
providence has suflfered two such races of men 
to be congregated together under such circum- 
stances, in this land. And this has been the 
conclusion: First — To repay to Africa the 
wrong we have done her, by the return of at 
least a portion of her children, laden with the 
treasures of civihzation and religion, to be dis- 
seminated through all her dark borders and 
tribes, that she may be prepared for the day of 
millennial glory. And hence the colonization 
cause has my approbation and sympathy. Se- 
cond — As a test of our good behaviour, in the 
enjoyment and due improvement of the blessed 
lot which he has so graciously bestowed upon 
us, and a rod in his hand to chastise us, if we 
should abuse our privileges, and not make 
suitable returns to our gracious benefactor. 
And this leads me to look with so much 
anxiety at this sign of the times. When we 



SLAVERY. 235 

think of our cupidity, our worldly mindedness, 
our lawlessness, our disregard of human life, 
our early political corruption, our national 
pride and vanity ; and last, though not least, 
our abuse of religious privileges, and espe- 
cially our individual and national disregard of 
God's holy day, who is not obhged to look 
with fear and trembling at such aspects of 
providence as that which we have this evening 
been contemplating ? 

This subject requires the deepest considera- 
tion of the wisest heads, and soundest hearts in 
our land. And the consideration must not be 
delayed, for the danger is threatening. Let 
none think of it as an unimportant matter. 
The condition of three millions, circumstanced 
as the African race are in our land, must ex- 
ercise an important influence on our country 
for good or evil. They are in an important 
sense, committed to our care, and we shall not 
only affect them by our treatment of them, but 
ourselves also. Their very residence among 
us affects all our institutions; nor will it be 
less so in time to come, and may be much 
greater. The very agitations which are at 
present connected with the subject, demand it 
of us to look at it with close and wise atten- 
tion. 

If there be any one thing more important 



236 LECTURE IX. 

than all others, to be attended to at present, it 
is the influence of a wild, reckless spirit, which, 
regardless of consequences, rushes at its object, 
as the eagle at its prey. Such a spirit would 
not be a safe counsellor on such a subject at 
such a time. A whole community under ex- 
cited feeling could be easily made to run mad. 
This evil is not to be thus cured, or the remedy 
will be worse than the disease. This spirit has 
already done a mischief on this very subject, 
which it will be no easy thing to cure. I fear 
it will be long before the subject will again 
present as favourable an aspect as it did eight 
years ago. 

And if, as there is reason to apprehend, this 
is one of the rods, in the Lord's hand, to chas- 
tise us for our sins ; and if there is reason to 
fear, that he is now holding it over us in a 
threatening manner, then it becomes us to 
humble ourselves before him, and return to 
him, in the attitude of penitents and suppliants. 
And then we may hope, that he will regard our 
cry, and remove all our fears. At all events, 
we shall not be mistaken, if we ask counsel 
of him. " If any lack wisdom, let him ask 
of God; who giveth liberally, and upbraideth 
not." 

Perplexed as the whole affair is to human 
eyes, and little as we may know how to relieve 



SLAVERY. 237 

ourselves from its difficulties, God's eye pierces 
through the dark cloud, and his hand can, with 
infinite ease, remove it, and bring us out into 
the clear sunshine of his favour. " With God, 
all things are possible," and he has never said 
to any of his creatures, " seek ye my face in 
vain.'' And especially, let it be your fervent 
prayer and earnest endeavour, that the Church 
of God may be kept clear from the passions 
and agitations which men are seeking to con- 
nect with the subject. If this be not the case, 
the salt itself will lose its savor; and then^ where- 
with shall it be salted? There are a multitude 
of men, connected with this perplexing subject, 
who have no connexion with the Church of 
God, and they have no right to ask her to en- 
ter into their angry feehngs, and do the w^ork 
which they have undertaken. Her business is, 
with the souls of men, and their salvation; and 
she must not descend into this arena, which 
the sins and follies of men may make one of 
blood. Into such counsels the Church must 
not come. Let her say to them, as Nehemiah 
said to Sanballat, " I am doing a great work, 
so that I cannot come down : why should the 
work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down 
to you?" 

Let all look at this subject, wisely, calmly, 
and prayerfully. It is a great and important 



238 LECTURE IX. SLAVERY. 

subject, which bears with weight upon the wel- 
fare of our beloved country, and all its institu- 
tions; and in its issues will deeply affect the 
glory of God, and the best interests of immor- 
tal souls. Pray, that the Divine eye may be 
upon it for good, and the Divine hand direct it 
to a happy result. 



LECTURE X. 

SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

The last " sign of the times," to which your at- 
tention was directed, was the subject of " Sla- 
very." My object was, to show that it is a 
subject of vast magnitude and importance, in- 
volving, to an inconceivable extent, the dearest 
interests of our beloved country. The difficul- 
ties and dangers connected wdth it, were at- 
tempted to be illustrated, by the number of the 
African race, free and in bondage, which ex- 
isted in our country; the relation in which the 
two races, who dw^ell together in our land, 
stand to each other; the constitutional power- 
lessness of the General Government, with res- 
pect to the subject; the difficulties connected 
with emancipation, arising from the absolute 
control of so many independent States over it; 
the poverty, ignorance, and helplessness of the 



240 LECTURE X. 

African race, both free and slaves; and the at- 
titude in which portions of the whites stand to 
each other, with respect to the subject of eman- 
cipation. From the state of the case, as it ex- 
isted, it was argued, that the subject should be 
approached with a great deal of caution, mode- 
ration, and practical wisdom, which was the 
more necessary, because evil passions had al- 
ready been engendered, which, if not season- 
ably checked, might kindle a fire which would 
destroy some of the dearest interests of our 
highly favoured country, and prove equally 
deleterious to the welfare of all concerned. 
And especially, that we should commend our 
beloved country, and its interests, to the holy 
keeping and benediction of God, and seek from 
him that wisdom which may be necessary to 
guide us through the perplexities and dangers 
by which the subject is surrounded. Let it be 
deeply impressed upon- all our minds, (I would 
I could impress it upon every American mind 
and heart,) that, what Jehovah has graciously 
bestowed upon us, as the collected wisdom of 
the fathers of our country, may not be des- 
troyed by the folly, madness, or wickedness of 
a few, or, even of an individual. The erection 
of a splendid edifice would require the wisdom 
of many and noble minds, and the labour of 
many and powerful hands, while a torch, in the 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS, 241 

hand of a foolish or wicked incendiary, would 
suffice to reduce it to ashes. 

All the dangers, however, by which our 
country is threatened, are not bound up in 
this single subject. The times present to our 
view other signs, \^hich it will be our interest 
to observe and study. A number of them 
have already, on former occasions, been called 
up. The 

IX. In order, and which will this evening 
claim your attention, is — The spirit of lawless- 
ness, which has, on a number of occasions, 
manifested itself, to the great detriment of the 
community, and with manifest danger to our 
institutions. If there be a country on earth, 
where the rigid maintenance of law and order 
is more necessary than in any other, ours is 
that country. Such is our state, that every 
thing among us is affected by public senti- 
ment. 

We have, indeed, an admirable Constitution. 
I have no doubt, that a benign and gracious 
Providence watched over, and directed its for- 
mation. The fathers of that instrument had 
not forgotten the vicissitudes and trials of the 
Revolution; the fervency with which the Di- 
vine protection and help had been implored; 
and the many interpositions and deliverances 
which had been experienced, in seasons of 

21 



242 LECTURE X. 

deep gloom and threatening dangers, and felt 
anxious, ere they should be called away, to 
remedy the defects of an imperfect confedera- 
tion, which kept us together by the force of 
the circumstances of danger and difficulty in 
which the country was involved, but was found 
to be totally inadequate to keep us together, so 
as to enable us to repair the injuries received in 
the Revolutionary contest, unite us as one peo- 
ple, and form us into a harmonious and happy 
nation, in a state of peace and prosperity. 
Hence their earnest, and, through the Divine 
blessing, successful endeavour, at so early a 
period, to form the Constitution, under which 
we still live. Nor was it a work of easy ac- 
complishment. There were many interests to 
be consulted; and many difficulties, which, at 
the time, were feared to be of an appalHng and 
almost insuperable nature, to be overcome — 
and, but for the blessing of God upon the exer- 
tions of Washington and his compeers, who 
threw the whole weight of their characters, as 
men and patriots, with all the love and grati- 
tude which was felt for them on account of their 
Revolutionary services and sacrifices, into the 
scale, would probably never have been over- 
come. They did, however succeed, beyond 
their own most sanguine hopes, and have left 
us a form of government which, while it has 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 243 

elicited the admiration of the wise and good 
throughout the world, has eminently promoted 
our welfare as a nation. 

This Constitution has been the safeguard of 
the State governments which existed before it, 
and the model of those which have been subse- 
quently formed. And not only so, but it has 
given direction and character to the whole 
course of our legislation both in the general 
and State governments. The consequence has 
been, that the general character of our legisla- 
tion has been wise and salutary, adapted to the 
circumstances of the people, and calculated to 
promote general welfare and individual happi- 
ness. And just as long as the people desire 
such legislation, they can command it — for if 
their representatives should enact unconstitu- 
tional laws, their courts can so declare them, 
and thus render them inoperative, or the peo- 
ple themselves can speedily rectify the evil, by 
choosing other representatives, and thus pro- 
cure their repeal, before any lasting or wide 
spread mischief could be wrought. The peo- 
ple of this country, have, under God, not only 
their laws, but their constitutions also, in their 
own power, and can change them at their 
pleasure. So that, if they are not good in 
themselves, or suited to their circumstances, 
they can modify or change them in any way 



244 LECTURE X. 

they may see fit. Under these circumstances, 
our constitutions and laws will be types of the 
character of the American people. If our civil 
and political institutions are not what they 
ought to be, the blame must rest upon our- 
selves. And so also with respect to their ad- 
ministration, for no public servant can hold an 
office long against the will of the people. 
Those of them who cannot be reached by the 
ballot boxes, may, by impeachment or indict- 
ment. No man can hold it out long against 
public sentiment. 

Let it, however, be observed, and constant- 
ly borne in mind, that the administration of 
the whole system depends on that sentiment. 
However wise and good our constitutions and 
laws, and however able and upright our rulers 
in every department of trust, the execution of 
law, and the preservation of order, will depend 
on the will, and of course on the character, of 
the people. This is more strikingly the case 
in our country than in any other on earth. 
Here the people are their own supreme law. 
The whole has, under God, emanated from 
them, and substantially, it periodically reverts 
into their hands. We neither have, nor can 
have, a European police, or mercenary soldiery, 
to dragoon the disorderly into unwilhng sub- 
mission, or coerce the execution of law against 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 245 

the popular will. The people themselves must be 
the conservators of the public peace, and they 
are themselves essentially the executors of the 
law, for they are the soldiers of the Constitu- 
tion. Should the popular mind, therefore, be- 
come sufficiently perverted to tolerate or desire 
unwholesome or wicked legislation, or to hin- 
der the execution of good and wholesome laws, 
there will be no earthly power left to preserve 
social order, or secure the pubHc welfare. Un- 
der such circumstances there would be less se- 
curity than if both the makers and the executors 
of the laws were corrupt and wicked — for the 
bad law may be repealed, and the wicked pub- 
lic servant may be displaced. But if the foun- 
tain itself be empoisoned, who will heal the 
streams ? " If the foundations be destroyed, 
what can the righteous do ?" 

We must be governed by law, or not at all. 
Every hinderance to the due administration of 
the law, while it is law, and every perversion of 
public sentiment which leads to the weaken- 
ing of the power and supremacy of the law, is a 
prop removed from under the edifice, which 
endangers its safety, by weakening its strength. 
And those who help it on are the instruments 
or abettors of all the disorder and loss which 
may be suflfered. No man can, with propriety, 
be esteemed either a good citizen, or a patriot, 

21* 



246 LECTUREX. 

much less a Christian, who does not submit 
himself to the laws of his country while they 
are in force, and give his influence to maintain 
their supremacy and execution. Every citizen 
owes this as a debt to his country, and every 
good citizeh will cheerfully pay it, as well "for 
conscience, as for wrath's sake.'' 

We may be aiders and abetters of lawless- 
ness and disorder, in a variety of ways. We 
are perhaps too much in the habit of circum- 
scribing this category. The openly lawless 
and disobedient, who regard neither God nor 
man, are not the only ones who belong to it. 
The open freebooter, the midnight plunderer, 
and the petty thief, are only modifications of 
the principle of dishonesty. So the open mob- 
ist, who would pull your house down, or burn 
it over your head ; or the man who would by 
violence hinder the execution of the law, or 
who would make and execute law by his own 
authority, under the pretence that its penalty 
is not sufficiently severe, or its ordinary execu- 
tion too tardy, are only modifications of law- 
lessness and disorder. The judge on the 
bench may so administer the law as to weaken 
its force, and he cease to be " a terror to evil 
doers." Or the juror in the box may nullify 
the law, by refusing to render a verdict of 
guilty on the clearest evidence, because he 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 247 

supposes the penalty by which the law is 
sanctioned, too severe. And so any man may 
become an enemy of law and order, who, al- 
though he will submit himself personally to its 
control, yet will speak lightly of, or justify the 
violations of which others are guilty. 

Such things can not be too deeply regretted, 
or too scrupulously avoided, in a country like 
ours. The law with us must be every thing, 
or it will be nothing. If one may with im- 
punity burn up a house of infamy, why may 
not another apply the torch to that of a hated 
neighbour. The same spirit which influenced 
the mob of New York to break open a flour 
store and scatter its contents to the winds, 
might influence another lawless multitude to 
break into your banks, and rifle them. And if 
a whole community could stand by and witness 
the voluntary conflagration of an edifice, with 
the erection and use of which they were dis- 
pleased, without moving a hand to save it, or 
bring the agents to punishment, who will gua- 
ranty the safety of our churches, against the ene- 
mies of religion, when their passions become ex- 
cited against it ? Mobs are not choice of the ob- 
jects of their attack. If they could arrest with 
their own private hands, and try by the laws of 
their own minds, and then execute by their 
own authority the wretched gamblers at Vicks- 



248 LECTURE X. 

burg, they could, with perhaps, as Uttle com- 
punction, and with the same impunity, shoot 
down a minister of the Gospel at Alton. True, 
he was an imprudent, perhaps a deluded man, 
but still a minister of the Gospel, an American 
citizen, and on every account entitled to the 
protection of the laws of his country, and to 
penalties, only as the laws should adjudge and 
inflict them. 

It is one of the evils of this spirit that it is 
lawless. No man can feel himself safe, even 
when he is obeying, in all good conscience, 
every law of his country. He may at the very 
time be committing some mortal offence, for 
which he may be called to answer with his life 
to the next collection of his fellow creatures he 
may chance to meet in the streets. Another 
evil is, that it makes the unruly and excited 
passions of men the judges of right and wrong, 
and these are commonly not only unjust, but 
cruel and malignant. They almost always ex- 
act more than is just, for passion views every 
thing through a perverted and false medium. 
Need I add, as one of the evils which flow from it, 
the loss of that delightful security which a man 
feels in every well regulated community, that 
his property, his reputation, his family, and his 
life, are all safe under the protection of law, and 
that he can sit in peace under his own vine and 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 249 

fig-tree, without any to molest or make afraid. 
How wretched must that land be, when its in- 
habitants feel that all they have is at the mercy 
of lawless violence; who, when they retire in 
the evening, are obliged to fear that the torch 
of the incendiary may be applied to their dwel- 
ling before the morning dawns ; or when they 
walk forth into the street, are obliged to be 
afraid lest the next person they shall meet, may 
prove to be an assassin ! 

It was a sad day in the land of Israel when 
the following record characterized its state. 
" In those days there was no king in Israel, but 
every man did that which was right in his own 
eyes." You may read an account of the fruit 
of this lawless state in the 17th, 18th, 20th, and 
21st chapters of the book of Judges. It came 
very near the entire destruction of one of the 
tribes of Israel. But when did this spirit ever 
work any thing but evil ? 

Perhaps it was never more strikingly exhibi- 
ted and fully illustrated than during the former 
years of the French Revolution. Then anarchy 
sat enthroned in the Jacobin Club of Paris, di- 
rected or controlled the deliberations and acts 
of the constituent and national assemblies, 
roused and pushed forward the mob of that 
great city in its march of rapine and blood, sent 
forth its decrees to its affihated clubs through- 



250 LECTURE X. 

out the nation, changed the French people into 
a nation of blood-hounds and tigers, subverted 
all law and order, laid the foundation of Napo- 
leon's iron despotism, and poured itself upon 
Europe like a stream of burning lava. The 
habits of ages, the long-cherished respect of 
that people for the altar and the throne, and the 
resistance of a brave mercenary soldiery, all 
gave way before its resistless march as things 
of naught. Even Napoleon could not stem it 
till it had spent its force, butchered the great 
mass of its own children, and an exhausted, and 
well nigh ruined nation, felt that it would be a 
blessed relief from such a state, to lie powerless 
on the bosom of a military despotism. Give us 
any thing, said the French people, but a state 
of lawlessness and anarchy ! In the compari- 
son, even the continual wars of the Emperor, 
although they cost millions of lives, the lives of 
the elite of the empire, were preferred, not only 
because they were connected with foreign con- 
quest and military glory, but they had peace, 
and in general, security of property and life at 
home. 

How great then would be the sacrifice of the 
American people, to give up the reign of law 
and order, with all their blessed fruits, for law- 
lessness and confusion ! What could possibly 
compensate us for the loss ? The hberty which 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 251 

is irrespective of law and order is " a chimera 
dire." It exists not as a blessing either in 
heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the 
dark regions of the damned. My hearers, 
" order is Heaven's first law," and its violation 
is rarely, if ever, suffered to pass with impunity. 
The undue indulgence of our appetites is incon- 
sistent with bodily comfort or health. A penalty 
is exacted for every act of excess. The indul- 
gence of our passions always affects our minds 
unhappily. When God made man upon the 
earth, he at once subjected him to law. In 
making him a social being, he provided by 
suitable enactments for his social relations, be- 
ginning with the family, and carrying it through 
the ramifications of society and life. Look at 
the divine code in the second table of the Law, 
and see how admirably it is adapted to man as 
a social being. The family is the first society, 
and the parents constitute the natural headship. 
Look how kindly he has provided for the sup- 
port of the head, the subjection of the members, 
and the order and comfort of the whole circle ! 
" Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy 
days may be long upon the land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee." What is a family with- 
out the practical influence of this wise and holy 
precept ? And for what society are men fit who 
have been trained without any regard to it? 



252 L E C T U R E X. 

In this divine precept God himself has laid the 
deep, and broad, and strong foundations of so- 
cial order and happiness. This is the grand 
social compact of our race, enacted and reveal- 
ed by God himself, long before Solon, or Lycur- 
gus, or Justinian, or Hampden, or Sydney, or 
the fathers of our own happy institutions, lived 
or taught. My hearers, the fire, the holy fire, 
came down from God out of heaven. Foolish 
and wicked men borrowed or stole the sacred 
fire from off his altar, and then refused to ac- 
knowledge the obligation. For what good and 
perfect gifts are we not indebted to the Father 
of fights ? 

And how wisely and benignly is this " first 
commandment with promise" followed up by 
others, having respect to the same relations, and 
calculated to secure order and comfort? By 
the first which follows, he cast about human 
life the safeguard of the divine protection — 
" Thou shalt not kill." By the second, he pro- 
tects the purity, and peace, and comfort of the 
domestic circle — " Thou shalt not commit adul- 
tery." By the third, he makes the fruit of a 
man's labour available to the support and com- 
fort of himself and his family, while at the same 
time the rights of all others are equally guard- 
ed — "Thou shalt not steal." By the fourth, 
truth, the foundation of confidence, and the se- 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS, 253 

curity of justice and right, is established — 
" Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy 
neighbour." And the last is designed to kill 
in the bud, to strangle in the birth, the dishon- 
esty, and fraud, and violence, by which indi- 
viduals and communities seek to aggrandize 
themselves at the expense of others, by forbid- 
ding the sin of covetousness, which is never 
satisfied with what it possesses, is grieved at 
the prosperity of others, desires every thing 
which it sees, and grasps at every thing which 
it desires. Thus has God, who is a God of or- 
der, and not of confusion, established a system 
for the government of our race, admirably cal- 
culated not only to promote the divine glory, 
and bind man by the strongest bonds of allegi- 
ance to his Maker, but to regulate in the happi- 
est manner his social relations and duties, so as 
to make them productive of individual happiness 
and general good. 

These principles are essential, not only to 
the well-being, but to the very existence of so- 
ciety. The wild Arab— the wandering son of 
Ishmael, whose home is in the dreary desert, 
" whose hand is against every man, and every 
man's hand against him," is still not without 
law to himself, or his fellows. It is not writ- 
ten on parchment, nor printed in a book, nor 
engraven on stone or metal. But still, it is his 

22 



254 LECTURE X. 

law, and he governs himself by it; and his 
rights and enjoyments, be they many or few, 
be they great or small, are protected and se- 
cured. And were it not so, he would soon be 
as lone as wild. Even robbers, who are banded 
together for spoil, and live in the constant 
breach of the laws of their country, have their 
own laws and officers, to which they render 
obedience. There is law, as well as "honour 
among thieves." All society must have its 
bonds; and these bonds must be suited to the 
state of that society, in order to ensure its 
welfare. When population is dense, active, 
and refined, intercourse frequent, mutual inter- 
ests many and important, it will not only re- 
quire many laws to regulate its concerns, but 
the most strict and orderly observance of them, 
or constant colKsion will be the consequence. 
This will especially be the case, where both 
the enactment and execution of the law are in 
the hands of the society itself; or, in other 
words, dependent on public sentiment. All 
communities, and especially those who possess 
free institutions, have an interest in the preser- 
vation of law and order, in the exact propor- 
tion of the immunities and privileges which 
they enjoy under them. Let the sacred shield 
of law be once removed from over their heads, 
and what is to secure them in the enjoyment of 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 255 

them? This is eminently the case, as has al- 
ready been remarked, in our own country. 
The law is, under God, the palladium of our 
rights, and of our enjoyments. When the 
laws shall die, or be reduced to silence, our 
liberties will die, and so will our prosperity, 
our national and individual happiness, and our 
religion — all our dearest interests and hopes. 

And are we in no danger? Have the whole 
body of the American people that high and 
sacred regard for law and order, which their 
supreme importance demands from a people 
who profess to be, and should be, jealous of 
every encroachment and danger which may 
threaten the integrity, and permanency of our 
free and -happy institutions^ — and the free ope- 
ration of our equal and wholesome laws, which 
award to every man his inestimable rights and 
privileges? Is their language, touch these, and 
you touch the apple of mine eye? Do they 
feel all that fear, and exercise all that vigi- 
lance, which a subject of such dread impor- 
tance demands at their hands? 

Alas ! that the " signs of the times" should 
oblige us to answer these interrogatories in the 
negative! There are too many proofs of the 
existence, not only, but of the tolerance of this 
evil. Do you ask, where are they to be found? 
and of what they do consist ? Are there not 



256 LECTURE X. 

thousands of the American people, who go 
continually armed with pistol, dirk, or Bowie- 
knife? not only on journies, and when they 
may perhaps be thought necessary to guard 
property, but every where, and on all occa- 
sions. That they are not carried out of mere 
show or fashion, is manifest from the fact that 
they are often used, and used to deadly pur- 
pose; not only in defence, but in offence. The 
victims may be counted by hundreds. Do they 
go armed in vain? Do they not intend to as- 
sault, or expect to be assaulted? If this be 
not a crying evil, why has the subject been 
agitated in legislative halls, and, in some in- 
stances, given rise to legal enactments, with 
high penalties? Can a spirit be more law- 
less than this? Here is a private citizen, who 
not only forms a definite opinion concerning 
all private offences, but sits as judge in his 
own case, and, for an offence so slight that 
the eye of the law cannot discern it, breaks 
the peace of society, takes the life of a fellow 
creature, and sends an immortal soul to the 
judgment, without time or ability to shed a 
tear of penitence, or an opportunity to apply 
for mercy, through the blood of atonement. 
The law condemns it as a heinous crime: And 
what comes of it? A brief inquiry — perhaps 
a recognisance — and, almost invariably, an ac- 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS, 257 

quittal. Could these things be, and pubUc sen- 
timent not justify them? Is this lawlessness, 
or is it not? Does it endanger our institutions, 
or does it not? What if all were thus to arm 
themselves? I tremble for my country. If 
any of you, my hearers, carry about with you 
these instruments of death, disencumber your- 
selves of them at once, and forever — for you 
may be bearing about with you the instrument 
of a double destruction, the very temptation 
by which you may be luring your own soul 
to the pit. 

Another proof that a lawless spirit is abroad 
in the land, is found in the practice of duelling; 
a practice which nothing can justify or palliate. 
It is anti-social, barbarous, unjust, cruel, re- 
vengeful, and at war with every principle of 
law, human and divine, which regards the hfe 
of man. Many have been its victims, sad its 
results. It made Alexander Hamilton a fool, 
and Aaron Burr a murderer, a wandering va- 
gabond in the earth, O, how must he have felt 
when he wrote, what I have myself read in his 
own hand-writing: "Since that sad event, by 
which I have severed myself from all mankind, 
I have been alike incapable of giving or re- 
ceiving consolation !'' Perhaps enough has 
been said on the melancholy subject on a for- 
mer occasion. Many practice it — more justify 

22* 



258 LECTUREX. 

it — and more still tolerate it; — and therefore, 
lawless as it is, and dangerous to our institu- 
tions, the more is it to be deprecated. Let me 
beseech those, if any such be present, who are 
in danger of being tempted to sacrifice to this 
bloody Moloch, to pause while the yawning gulf 
is still at a distance, ere they make the fatal 
plunge, and reflect on the language of Aaron 
Burr, and look to the judgment seat of Jesus 
Christ ! 

Need I add, that mobs are awful proofs of 
lawlessness and disorder wherever they exist, 
and for whatever purposes they may be gotten 
up. As nothing can justify them, so nothing 
should ever induce a member of any American 
community to engage in them, or speak well 
of them. If they are ever made the means of 
rectifying one abuse, they occasion many. If 
they are ever brought to bear for the punish- 
ment of one crime, they have been the fruitful 
source of thousands. They who use them, put 
firebrands into the hands of madmen, and may 
kindle a conflagration which may burn till it 
shall have consumed every pleasant, good, or 
holy thing within its destructive range. Mobs 
have neither understandings nor hearts. They 
are all passion and fury — and if there be any 
exception to the rule, it is so much the worse, 
for it denotes the absence of all good principle. 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 259 

Let that man tremble, who can find it in his 
heart to justify a mob for doing what may be 
confessedly good, if it had been lawfully done ; 
for, upon his own principles, he stands exposed 
to retribution in kind, be it never so unrighte- 
ous, and the justification of the wicked man 
will be, I was only following in the track of 
your lawless example, having as perfect a right 
to be my own judge and executioner as your- 
self. Against you, at all events, the plea would 
be perfectly conclusive. The fact is, mobs are 
always, and necessarily, unlawful and lawless, 
and therefore wicked. It is an established 
maxim in all law, divine as well as human, that 
the end cannot justify the means ; so that he 
who does evil that good may come, is justly 
condemned. 

Unhappily for us, these lawless and danger- 
ous combinations have become too common in 
our land, and are therefore the more deeply 
and fervently to be deprecated. The more 
numerous they are, the greater is the danger 
that they may supersede all law, and vacate all 
order. Our institutions will not long bear them. 
Woe betide us when mobs become the panacea 
for our moral or political disorders. If a re- 
medy at all, they are a desperate remedy for 
any disorder which is not in its own nature 
mortal. They have already been the fruitful 



260 L E C T U R E X • 

source of many evils, and if no remedy of suffi- 
cient virtue be found and applied, the time may 
come, may the Lord avert it, when the best 
disposed and most virtuous of the citizens of 
our now free and happy land, may find the iron 
sceptre of some home-bred Napoleon a relief 
from the tyranny, anarchy, and destructive 
power of mobs. The phrase, "any law, 
rather than mob law," has well nigh the sen- 
tentiousness and force of a maxim. Under 
such a rule, or rather misrule^ what interest or 
comfort is secure ? If a mob demolished the 
Bastile, a prison of State, it has also demolished 
many a Christian temple. If it has dethroned 
a few tyrants, it has raised up many. I may 
be too apprehensive on the subject, God grant 
it may be found so, but I am fearful of their 
multiplication and influence. 

The exciting causes of the spirit of misrule, 
seem to me to be numerous and various. I do 
not design, however, at this late hour, to go 
into any lengthened detail on the subject. 
Among these, I think, may be set down as one, 
the very exuberance of our freedom. Our in- 
stitutions impose so little restraint upon us that 
we scarcely feel it, and consequently, on the 
one hand, are very much disposed to act as if 
there were none ; and on the other hand, when 
the yoke presses a little, to feel restive and un- 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 261 

easy under it, and desirous of shaking it off 
entirely. Then again, the spirit of freedom is 
apt to beget the spirit of pride. Such is the 
majesty of freedom, that the simple citizen feels 
himself to be a kind of little king in his sphere, 
and as the king can do no wrong, he feels very 
much disposed to act as he pleases in all 
things. 

Nor do I doubt, that one cause may be found 
in the exciting manner in which the subject of 
politics is frequently brought to bear on a por- 
tion of community. Every thing is seen 
through a distorted medium, and therefore, is 
not seen in its true character and just propor- 
tions. Political opponents are rarely allowed 
to be good men, or to possess any estimable 
qualities. Invidious distinctions are made, and 
the parties excited against each other, as 
though they were natural and irreconcilable 
enemies. Nor are appeals to the worst pas- 
sions of our nature, and the baset motives by 
which the hearts of men can be influenced, un- 
common. I am speaking of no party; but of 
what causes the wise and good of all parties to 
feel great heaviness of heart, and to be exer- 
cised by awful apprehensions for their country. 
I refer to the pohtician by trade, who panders 
to the worst passions of men, and lives upon 
the pubhc spoils. These set the ball in mo- 



262 LECTURE X. 

tion, and it may well be, that wiser and bet- 
ter men may be unable to arrest its course- 
These kindle a fire, which, if it continue and 
spread, a flood may not suffice to quench. 
Here is one of the dangers which, while it too 
frequently disturbs our peace and order, en- 
dangers the ultimate safety of our institutions. 
Who will stem this flood for us? who guide the 
vessel through this narrow, dangerous strait? 

But finally: The cause of causes may be 
found in the absence of a deep, settled con- 
viction, that God has laid the foundation of so- 
cial order, and of society itself, in the fifth pre- 
cept of the Decalogue, connected with its prac- 
tical influence, arising from early moral train- 
ing and discipline. This is the precept: "Ho- 
nour thy father and thy mother, that thy days 
may be long in the land which the Lord thy 
God giveth thee," I have already remarked, 
in another part of this discourse, that this is 
the foundation which God has laid for the so- 
cial edifice, and, that nothing but its principles 
can bind its parts together. It unfortunately 
happens, that comparatively few in our country 
build on this foundation, or adopt its principle. 
Even if the attention of the child or youth be 
directed to it, how rarely does the parent ex- 
pand it, and apply its principle, as of Divine 
authority, to the relations of society and civil 



SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS. 263 

government! and perhaps more rarely still, in- 
sist upon its practical application in the do- 
mestic circle, particularly as a divine enact- 
ment, which binds the conscience, as well as 
directs the life. 

Few of our American youth enter upon the 
stage of action, and assume the civil and po- 
litical relations, fully indoctrinated in the prin- 
ciples of this precept, and already habituated 
to the practice which it inculcates, and, conse- 
quently, not fully able to appreciate the su- 
preme importance of law and order to the be- 
ing, and well being of society. Let the whole 
mass of the young be thus trained, and you 
would have a society as stable as the everlast- 
ing hills ; for, says the Lord, " Train up a child 
in the way he should go, and when he is old, 
he will not depart from it." 

This, is the conclusion of the whole matter. 
There is a tendency, in our whole civil and po- 
litical system, to deterioration, administered, as 
it must necessarily be, by sinful, selfish man, 
for the government of those like himself. We 
already reap some of its bitter fruits, and are 
in danger of reaping more. The principles of 
the divine law lay the only solid foundation for 
permanent and happy civil institutions, especial- 
ly those which contain most of the principles 
of civil hberty and self-government; and, that 



264 LECTURE X, 

they can be maintained in that health and 
vigour which will make them productive of 
the greatest good, only by a large infusion of 
that holiness which exalteth a nation. And, 
that it is the wisdom and the duty of the 
American people, to cultivate those principles 
which, through the Divine blessing, may give 
the greatest permanency and efficiency to our 
happy institutions, and make them blessings to 
the latest posterity. May God, of infinite 
mercy, conduct to such results; and to his 
name, in Christ, shall be all the praise for ever. 



LECTURE XI. 

DEALINGS OP PROVIDENCE. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 

CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

The last "sign of the times'' to which your 
attention was directed, was — "That spirit of 
lawlessness which has, for a number of years, 
from time to time, broken out, and endangered 
or disturbed the peace of the community." 
The importance of law and order to the welfare 
of a country, where the very execution of the 
law depends upon pubhc sentiment, was endea- 
voured to be estabhshed and enforced. The in- 
consistency of dueUing; the wearing, and use 
of deadly weapons by individuals; and the ac- 
tion of mobs, with the peace and welfare of 
society, were particularly insisted on, because 
they raise the will and passions of individuals 
above the law of the land, involving the mon- 
strous injustice of making every man his own 
lawgiver, judge, and executioner, however dis- 
ss 



266 LECTURE XI. 

qualified by ignorance, self-interest, or pas- 
sion, A number of remarks were also made, 
on the fact, that God had formed our race 
with social, as well as intelligent natures; and 
that, while he had thus fitted us to dwell to- 
gether in communities, he had enacted a law 
which was admirably calculated to regulate 
our social relations, and make them productive 
of general and individual happiness. This was 
attempted to be illustrated, by the second table 
of the Decalogue; in which it was supposed 
that God had laid the foundation of all civil 
government in the family, by clothing the pa- 
rents with all the necessary authority to exer- 
cise government, and laid the child under mo- 
ral obligation, not only to submit to that autho- 
rity when it should exact obedience, but to 
hold it in such honour as to make that obedi- 
ence easy and pleasant. This, it was shown, 
would form the young to habits of order and 
obedience to law, and lay a solid foundation 
for the peace and order of larger communities. 
The connexion of the remaining precepts of 
the Decalogue, was also exhibited, as illustra- 
ting the interest which the Lord takes in the 
welfare of our race. There might have been 
added, the happy influence of true rehgion, in 
estabhshing and confirming the order and hap- 
piness of society, for, whatever binds man in 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 267 

allegiance to God, will make him willingly and 
conscientiously subject to every ordinance of 
man for the Lord's sake. 

The great object had in view, in the whole 
discussion, was, to show how utterly inconsist- 
ent a spirit of lawlessness and disorder was 
with the stability of our institutions, and the 
prosperity and happiness of our country. Nor 
are we alone involved in the issue. A grand 
experiment on free institutions is performing in 
this western world, under fairer auspices than 
have ever before existed, and the eyes of the 
world are directed to us. If we fail, as fail 
we must, if our liberty becomes licentiousness, 
the hand on the dial will go many degrees 
backward, and the renovation of the civil insti- 
tutions of the world, be long, if not indefinitely 
postponed. Shall we bring this guilt upon 
ourselves? and this blighting upon the world's 
hopes? We shall, most assuredly, if we prove 
an irreligious and lawless people. It may per- 
haps be profitable, if we now turn our atten- 
tion, as the 

X. Sign of the times, to the nature and de- 
sign of some of the dealings of Providence with 
us as a nation^ for a few years past. 

I trust a review of some of the divine dispen- 
sations towards our country may be both inte- 
resting and instructive. The age in which we 



268 LECTUREXI. 

live, the state of the world, the character of our 
population and institutions, the position .which 
we occupy among the nations of the earth, the 
attention which is fixed upon us, and the proba- 
ble influence which we shall exercise on the des- 
tinies of the world, render it very probable 
that God's dealings with us partake of a highly 
interesting and special character. And if so, 
they may well be studied with deep attention 
and thrilling interest. 

Those of my hearers who have honoured me 
with their attention from month to month while 
attempting to illustrate and improve "the 
signs of the times," will recollect that our be- 
loved country has been frequently spoken of as 
peculiarly favoured and blessed of God. This 
is true with respect to the whole range of our 
history. The study of it would be calculated to 
improve both the minds and the hearts of those 
who should regard it as connected with the mo- 
ral government of God. And in this light it 
should be regarded, for God is the Governor 
among the nations. The range which I pur- 
pose to take is not of this extended character. 
It is comprehended within the circle of a few 
years. But the events are neither few, nor 
small, nor unimportant; and if some of them are 
not recalled to the mind by a simple reference, 
even without naming them, it is a sure sign that 



DEALINGS OF PHOVIDENCE. 269 

we have not been suitably affected by them. 
This alone would be a good reason to call them 
up again, form them into a group, direct atten- 
tion to them, give them a more permanent place 
in the mind, and endeavour to derive from them 
the practical instruction which they are calcu- 
lated to afford. My observations shall be con- 
fined to the events of the last seven years. I 
commence with the year 1832. 

A disease which has received the name of 
" The Asiatic Cholera," has for a long time 
been known and dreaded in the East Indies. 
Its range has there been wide and destructive. 
It was supposed to be peculiar to that climate. 
A few years before the time I have named, it 
began to take its course westward through the 
interior of Asia until it reached the confines of 
the Russian empire, and marched on, contrary 
to all expectation, through a high northern lati- 
tude and cold climate, and entered Europe; and, 
with various degrees of violence and destruc- 
tiveness, passed through its various countries 
and chmates. In 1831, perhaps not before the 
early part of 1832, it reached England, and 
soon after, France. We heard of it, and some 
shght degree of alarm was excited. Still, our 
country was a healthy one, the broad Atlantic 
rolled its waves between us and Europe, it was 
not believed to be contagious, it had never been 

23* 



270 LECTURE XI. 

known to overleap such a barrier as the Atlan- 
tic ocean, and a good degree of confidence was 
felt that we should escape its ravages. 

This confidence continued until thebeginning 
of June in the memorable year 1832. Then 
the tidings arrived that it had broken out at the 
same time at Quebec and Montreal. In another 
month it was at New York. And then, how 
speedily did it march over the land in its length 
and breadth? It was also experienced in 
greater or less extent and violence in the two 
following years. It is not my intention to re- 
hearse its history, or give its statistics. I have 
neither the time nor the means of doing so at 
my command. It is enough to remark, that 
many thousands were its victims, that millions 
felt its eflfects, that the minds of the greater part 
of our population w^ere so disturbed and alarm- 
ed by it as to be unable to take their daily food 
with comfort, and few were then unwilling to 
acknowledge " the finger of God" in it. Nor 
was the acknowledgment an unreasonable one. 
A disease so singular in its character, so 
strange and rapid in its movements, so fatal in 
its effects, and so w^ell calculated deeply to af- 
fect the minds of men, may well be referred to 
the special providence of God. If God have 
any thing to do with the affairs of men, and we 
are divinely told that his judgments are fre- 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 271' 

quently abroad in the earth, and that the very- 
hairs of our head are all numbered, why should 
we doubt the presence of his hand, and the 
counsel of his will in such a series of divine 
providences ? I will not now inquire either into 
the cause or object. 

Another striking series of facts may be found 
in the number of lives which have been lost 
within the last seven years by shipwreck, and 
by the burning of vessels at sea, and the de- 
struction of steamboats in a variety of ways, on 
the rivers and lakes of our country. The cata- 
logue is long and dark, and a detailed rehearsal 
of their story would be harrowing to the feel- 
ings. Who does not think with horror of the 
destruction of the Mexico on Long Island, to- 
gether with the greater part of her passengers 
and crew, in the depth of winter. The loss of 
the unfortunate Pulaski on our seaboard, the 
Moselle at Cincinnati, and the Washington on 
Lake Erie, sent a thrill of horror throughout our 
land. Multitudes of other disasters have occur- 
red connected with the loss of many lives. The 
recent loss of three of our most splendid packet 
ships on the coast of England, and the many 
lives which fell a sacrifice, are still fresh in our 
memories. How many lives have thus been 
lost I cannot tell — the number is large. During 
one season it amounted to a thousand on our 



272 LECTURE XI. 

coast in the course of a few months. The ag- 
gregate for the last seven years would amount 
to many thousands. Has the Lord, who guides 
and governs the elements of nature, as well as 
the minds of the children of men, had any con- 
cern with these affairs ? Who, but the down- 
right Atheist, can deny the presence and the 
hand of God in them ? 

Look next at the state of property and busi- 
ness in our country during the same period. 
There has perhaps never been a time in the 
history of this land, (and the goodness of the 
Lord has been prohfic towards us,) when we en- 
joyed a state of more high and palmy pros- 
perity, than in the years which immediately pre- 
ceded 1834. Agriculture, commerce, and manu- 
factures, were rapidly developing our resources. 
Every thing to which men put their hands 
seemed to prosper. The wilderness smiled as 
Eden, and blossomed as the rose, and we said 
in our self-complacency, " My mountain stands 
strong, I shall never be moved." During that 
year, however, it became a matter of painful 
experience that in that respect the Lord hid his 
face, and we were troubled. Who does not re- 
member that season of panic. One ascribed it 
to one cause, and another to another. Some 
supposed it to be necessary, and others facti- 
tious. But so far as I recollect, the hand of 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE, 273 

God was seldom mentioned in connexion with 
it. It is, however, very certain that the ex- 
changes of our country became exceedingly de- 
ranged, that multitudes were very much embar- 
rassed, that many heavy failures occurred, that 
there was a great stagnation of business, and 
that many a golden dream vanished into thin 
air. It is not doubted that the supposed wealth 
of our country was diminished by many millions 
by the operation. 

The last month of the succeeding year was 
rendered memorable, by one of the greatest ca- 
amities which our country has ever suffered — 
the conflagration of more than six hundred 
dwellings and stores, and the destruction of 
more than seventeen millions worth of proper- 
ty, in the city of New York. The effects of 
that calamity are not easily measured, and will 
not soon be forgotten. The whole land felt it; 
for, business has connected every part of it 
with New York. Perhaps the city of Charles- 
ton has since suffered in an equal, if not 
greater proportion, by a similar calamity. 
Many other cities have subsequently suffered 
heavy losses in the same way. Twenty mil- 
lions would not replace the property which has 
been destroyed in our country by fire, within 
five years. 

I have already adverted to shipwrecks, and 



274 LECTUREXI. 

the destruction of steamboats, on the waters of 
our country, in a variety of ways, as connected 
with the loss of human hfe. It is pertinent 
here to connect these disasters with the de- 
struction of property. I am not in possession 
of data w^hich would enable me even to ap- 
proximate the truth in any calculations which 
I might make on the subject — but no one 
would be surprised if it were estimated by 
millions. 

The year 1837 is still fresh in your recollec- 
tion. Many wdll never forget it. How should 
they? when so many great houses were smit- 
ten with breaches, and so many little ones with 
clefts; and so many were obliged to cry, with 
Micah, "Ye have taken away my gods; and 
what have I more?" Who ever witnessed 
such a period? House after house fell — fail- 
ure followed failure, in such rapid succession, 
that all confidence was destroyed, and almost 
universal bankruptcy was feared. Thousands 
were sacrificed to save the last hope of credit. 
Every succeeding morning's intelligence was 
anticipated with a kind of instinctive horror. 
Men were afraid to ask of each other, the 
news of the day. Many, in this community, 
and more in proportion elsewhere, feared, for 
a length of time, every njorning, that their cre- 
dit, dearer to them than life, would that day 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE, 275 

perish — till finally, the banks stopped the pay- 
ment of specie, and the community doubted, 
whether one-half of them would ever resume. 
Never was this description of the Jews, in 
their calamity, more strikingly resembled than 
among the business part of the American peo- 
ple: "In the morning thou shalt say, would 
God it were even ! and at even thou shalt say, 
would God it were morning! for the fear of 
thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for 
the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see!" 
We were indeed a suffering community; and 
all our previous pecuniary losses were cast into 
the shade by those which were induced by this 
state of things. 

We dwell in a widely extended and fertile 
land, abounding in the fruits of the earth, and, 
with ordinary cultivation, producing far beyond 
the necessities of its inhabitants. In this re- 
spect it is a land highly favoured of the Lord — 
in the beautiful language of the Scriptures, " a 
land flowing with milk and honey." It has 
been called, " the poor man's paradise." And 
yet, such have been the aspects of Divine 
Providence, that for two seasons of the period 
under review, there was such a deficiency of 
some of the more important fruits of the earth, 
as not only to enhance the price of bread-stuflTs 
so much as greatly to embarrass the poor, but, 



276 LECTURE XI. 

SO as to render the importation of hundreds of 
thousands of bushels of grain from foreign 
countries necessary. This, to say the least of 
it, is a strange thing in the history of our 
country; and is worthy of the observation of 
the moralist, as well as the political cecono- 
mist. 

There is left, in our country, a remnant of 
the aboriginal inhabitants. They have been 
widely scattered. We have been frequently 
embroiled with them. They have often met 
with hard and provoking treatment; commonly 
from individuals, or small portions of the com- 
munity. The Government has, in the main, 
sought their welfare. But, crowded by our 
advancing population, they have receded, and 
melted away. A small tribe, denominated the 
Seminoles, inhabited Florida. We felt anxious 
to possess the whole of that Territory. We 
entered into a treaty with them; to which, the 
body of the tribe were unwilling to accede. A 
war was the consequence; which has already 
endured two years and a half, cost twenty mil- 
lions of dollars, and more lives than the tribe 
originally contained; and, almost every week 
brings us an account of some plantation that 
has been devastated, and its inhabitants de- 
stroyed. But the end is not yet. This, is cer- 
tainly remarkable. There must be a cause. 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 277 

Concerning the tribes which our Government 
is collecting together beyond the Mississippi, I 
will hazard no conjectures. I have my fears. 
God grant that they may prove to have been 
unfounded. Most of these tribes are still rude 
and uncivilized, and, of course, easily excited, 
and under the influence of strong feeling. They 
have been pushed from point to point, with no 
gentle hand. They are warmly attached to 
their hunting-grounds, and " the place of their 
father's sepulchres.'' They feel as if they have 
had hard measure meted out to them. They 
feel, as if they have been greatly wronged^ and 
wronged by us. When we tell them of their trea- 
ties, they allege fraud or force in obtaining them. 
When we speak of their depredations on our 
frontiers, they reply, we were living peaceably 
in our cabins, till your people came upon us, 
and drove off our cattle and horses, and burnt 
up our cabins, and even slew our women and 
children, while our braves were at a distance, 
on our hunting-grounds. They are too often 
in the right, for our reputation or our good. 
Is it not to be apprehended, that feelings of re- 
venge may be rankhng in their bosoms? that 
they may be watching some favourable oppor- 
tunity, when they will bury all the evil feelings 
they entertain towards each other, and, under 
the influence of some new prophet, unite their 

24 



278 LECTURE XI. 

forces, and pour out their fury on our frontiers; 
or, that some new wrong, real or imaginary, 
may rouse them to fury against us? And, if 
we have really wronged them, would not God 
plead for them against us! I fear, we have 
not seen the last of our Indian wars. 

There are a number of other topics of 
scarcely inferior importance, upon which the 
attentive observer of " the signs of the times," 
cannot look without feeling a thrill of interest 
and apprehension, as connected with the wel- 
fare of our beloved country — at which I have 
time only to glance. There is a fearful interest 
connected with the state of the British pro- 
vinces to the north and east of us. They are 
full of the elements of political turmoil. When 
they are hard pressed they take refuge among 
tis. They arm anew for the contest within our 
borders, supported and encouraged not only by 
the sympathies, but by the money and arms of 
Americans, a number of whom have paid the 
forfeit with their lives, some on the field of 
battle, and some on the gallows. 

The agitations connected with the Maine 
boundary are scarcely yet allayed. A few 
weeks ago, one of the states of the Union, 
bound by a constitution which has committed 
the whole subject of our foreign relations to 
the general government, well nigh levied war, 



DEALINGS OP PROVIDENCE. 279 

and committed the Union to a contest which 
might have endured for years, and cost thou- 
sands of hves, and miUions of money, and 
whose influence on morals and happiness no 
man can measure — and yet the body of the 
American people were but little alarmed at it, 
and many, I fear, anxiously desired it. If pub- 
lic opinion on the subject of war, be, what I 
apprehend it to be, we might very easily be 
hurried into contests, which under the most 
favourable circumstances are to be greatly de- 
precated, and might prove very destructive to 
our dearest interests. 

It is not necessary that I should direct your 
attention again to the difficult, agitating, and 
alarming subject of slavery, in connexion with 
the state of public sentiment about it, which to 
me seems like one of the rods which God is 
holding over our heads. Nor will I dwell, al- 
though it holds a prominent place in the cate- 
gory, on that restless and lawless spirit, which 
from time to time vents itself in broils and 
mobs, and which we have reason to fear may 
mingle itself up with the politics of the day, 
and in the hands of unprincipled men, be used 
as an instrument to subvert our happy institu- 
tions. The danger is the greater from the 
consideration, that there is reason to fear that 
a sufficiently high value is not attached to our 



280 LECTURE XI. 

Union and institutions as they exist. We 
are what we are, because we are one people. 
The value of this cannot be calculated. And 
yet it may be feared there are those who think 
their arithmetic can make the estimate. Be- 
lieve me, my hearers, that if one link be broken 
out of that chain, its parts will never be re- 
united. That any of the American people, 
and especially any of our prominent public 
men, can look at the prospect of a probable 
severance of our Union, no matter for what 
cause, without shuddering, is to me an indu- 
bitable proof, that their minds are destitute of 
that wisdom, and their hearts of that whole- 
some feeling, which God will give us while he 
regards us with favour. 

It has appeared from the facts which have 
passed in review before us this evening, that 
there are many things which have occurred 
within the last seven years of our country's 
history, which are of a striking character, and 
which, however many are the blessings which 
have been left to us, would seem to indicate 
that God has a controversy with us which we 
ought to regard with reverential interest and to 
study with devout attention. I am fully aware 
of the delicacy and danger connected with the 
study and application of such a subject, remem- 
bering the words of Christ concerning those 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 281 

eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell ; 
"Think ye that these were sinners above all men 
that dwell in Jerusalem ? I tell you, nay ; but 
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
It becomes us to be very humble and modest in 
the judgments we form on such subjects. It is 
however, one thing to judge rashly^ and ano- 
ther to "discern the signs of the times," by 
the light which God's word casts on his pro- 
vidences. The latter we not only may, but 
should do. 

It is as true that God is the moral governor 
of the universe, as it is that he is the preserver 
of his creatures. And while he will have us feel 
our dependence, and thankfully acknowledge 
his goodness, he makes it our sacred duty to 
regard his judgments with awe and reverence. 
The providences of God towards the children 
of Israel were very remarkable, and he com- 
plains of them that they disregarded them — 
" Who among you will give ear to this ? who 
will hearken, and hear for the time to come? 
who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the 
robbers ? did not the Lord, he against w^hom 
we have sinned ? for they would not walk in 
his ways, neither were they obedient unto his 
laws. Therefore he hath poured upon them 
the fury of his anger, and the strength of bat- 
tle; and it hath set him on fire round about, 

24* 



282 LECTURE XI. 

yet he knew not ; and it burned him, yet he 
laid it not to heart." Does it need any proof 
that God exercised a moral government over 
that nation? Does not their whole history 
illustrate the fact ? Why have they been dis- 
persed? Why have they been preserved in a 
separate state for eighteen hundred years, 
though scattered among all nations? Why 
are there so many predictions concerning their 
future glory ? 

But perhaps it may be said, their case was 
pecuKar. The general principles of the divine 
government are not pecuhar. They embrace 
all nations, and all time. The government of 
the whole world has been committed into the 
hands of Jesus Christ, as the Mediator, be- 
tween God and men, and the very principle for 
which I am contending is necessary for the ful- 
filment of the trust which has been committed 
into his hands. The hopes of our ruined race 
are dependent upon it. Hence he is called, 
" the head over all things to the Church'' — 
" King of kings, and Lord of Lords.'' " For 
the kingdom is the Lord's ; and he is the go- 
vernor among the nations." — " Yet have I set 
my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Be wise, 
therefore, O ye kings ; be instructed, ye judges 
of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and 
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 283 

be angry, and ye perish from the way, when 
his wrath is kindled but a Uttle. Blessed are 
all they that put their trust in him/' "God is 
the Judge: he putteth down one, and setteth 
up another." Surely, if the individuals of our 
race are so under God's controul, that "the 
very hairs of their head are all numbered,'' it 
can scarcely be imagined that He disregards 
the affairs of rulers and nations, upon the ac- 
tion of whom the welfare of such myriads of 
individuals depend ! Nay ; there are good rea- 
sons why the moral government of God should 
bear with more directness upon collective bo- 
dies of men, such as communities and nations, 
than upon individuals. 

The individual is justly regarded as responsi- 
ble in his own individual capacity. He never 
loses his personal identity. He can always be 
found, and always reached. If God see fit to 
mark him by a providential act in this life, it is 
well. He has a perfect right to do so, and has 
often done it, as in the cases of Lot's wife, An- 
nanias, Saphyra, and many others. Most can 
recollect instances in which the providences of 
God have been so striking as to mark the very 
sins for which men have been visited. JBut 
what, if he see fit to give the notoriously 
wdcked, throughout the w^hole of their lives, 
more than their hearts could wish, so that their 



284 LECTURE XI. 

cup runneth over, and their eyes stand out with 
fatness, and then let them depart without bands 
in their death — adequate retribution in the 
world of spirits is insured, for the individual, 
with all his responsibilities, is remitted to the 
judgment seat of Christ, to receive according 
to the deeds done in the body. Not so with 
respect to collective bodies, such as nations. 
The bonds of nations are dissolved here. Death 
resolves collective bodies into the elements of 
which they are composed. They are not 
known in their collective capacity after this life. 
If therefore, communities, as such, have exer- 
cised a moral influence affecting the declarative 
glory of God, and the condition of his crea- 
tures, and it be proper that God should act to- 
wards them in such a way as to illustrate his 
character and government, there is a moral 
necessity that he should reach them by the dis- 
pensations of his providence while they retain 
their collective capacity. 

This, I apprehend, is the only principle upon 
which we can account for the dealings of God 
with nations, and the declarations which we 
find in the Scriptures, bearing on the subject. 
When all flesh had corrupted their way on the 
earth, he destroyed the whole race, excepting 
Noah and his family. When the inhabitants of 
Sodom and the neighbouring cities had become. 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 285 

universally corrupt, he overwhelmed them by- 
one stroke. When the nations of Canaan had 
filled up the measure of their iniquity, he sent 
the children of Israel to destroy them, and 
possess their land. And when they aposta- 
tized, he visited them with pestilence and 
famine, or delivered them into the hands of 
their enemies. Such are the general develop- 
ments of the moral government of God towards 
the nations of the earth, and we are in much 
less danger of mistake in applying these prin- 
ciples to communities, than to individuals. 

We are then prepared to say, from the prin- 
ciples which we have deduced from the word of 
God, and the illustrations furnished by the sa- 
cred history of his providences, that when the 
dealings of Divine Providence in consecutive 
years are adverse to the prosperity and com- 
fort of a nation, interfering materially with 
their interests, and frustrating their desires and 
their hopes, that there is reason to fear that 
God is pleading a controversy with them, in- 
to the ground, of which they are imperiously 
bound to inquire, and the causes of which they 
should diligently labour to remove. The eye 
should be directed to them with close attention 
and deep interest, to ascertain, if possible, the 
reason of the controversy which God may have 
with them. God will hide himself from men 



286 LECTURE XI. 

on account of their sins, and return unto them 
when they humble themselves under his hand 
and return to him by penitence and prayer. 
This is his language — " I will go and return to 
my place till they acknowledge their offence, 
and seek my face." And concerning the dili- 
gent study of his dispensations we have this 
record — " whoso is wise, and will observe these 
things, even they shall understand the loving 
kindness of the Lord." The attention and in- 
terest with which men may be induced to re- 
gard the Lord's dealings with them is of great 
importance. 

That God takes an interest in the concerns 
of our country, none but Atheists will venture 
to deny. Our fathers loved to acknowledge 
his hand, and refer their cause to him. And 
who can believe that this people have grown 
up without his care and blessing ! And if he 
led forth our fathers like a flock, and guided 
and raised us to such heights of prosperity 
and glory, why should it be supposed that he 
has had no concern in the events of later vears. 
If our prosperity have come from him, from 
what source have our afllictions come? Do 
they ever come without a cause ? 

Look again at the events of the last seven 
years which have passed in review before us. 
The dreadful cholera, which swept away so 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 287 

many thousands, in so short a time, and filled 
the whole land with consternation. The suc- 
cessive embarrassments in the concerns of 
business and money. The loss of human life 
by shipwreck and other disasters on our wa- 
ters. The pecuniary losses which have been 
suffered by derangement of business, by bank- 
ruptcies, by storms at sea, by the destruction 
of steam-boats by fire and other means, by the 
conflagration of scores of manufactories, and 
large portions of some of our cities, by exten- 
sive failures of the fruits of the earth, and by 
the overwhelming floods with which the last 
winter has passed away — the gloomy subject of 
slavery, and the feelings which are connected 
with it, and engendered by it — the lawless and 
reckless spirit which actuates so many of our 
countrymen, and which vents itself in broils 
and mobs, and conflagrations, and murders — 
the state of the Indian tribes, and the expen- 
sive, protracted, and disgraceful war in which 
we have been engaged with one of the smallest 
of them. The state of the Canadas, the 
Maine boundary question, and the feelings of a 
multitude of the American people with respect 
to our relations with Great Britain. If God 
has any concern with these subjects, and I 
know not how to separate them from the scope 
and action of his moral government — a govern- 



288 LECTURE XI. 

ment which comprehends the army of heaven, 
and every dweller upon earth, yea, and the dark 
regions of hell — then there is reason to appre- 
hend that he has a controversy with us, of 
which these providences are the tokens and the 
proofs, and we cannot disregard them without 
neglecting the best interests of our country, and 
our duty to God. 

Nor would it be difficult to find substantial 
reasons for the Lord's dealings with us, in our 
state and conduct as a nation. He has dealt 
graciously and bountifully with us. There is 
not a people on earth who are so deeply in- 
debted to the Divine goodness. We have, 
truly, " a goodly heritage.'' Whether we look 
at the extent, fertility, and healthiness of our 
country, the Divine care in watching over us, 
the deliverances we have experienced from 
perils, the rapidity of our growth, in num- 
bers, in wealth, and in the substantial com- 
forts of life, the happy character of our civil 
institutions, and the exuberance of our religi- 
ous privileges, we may well say, " he hath not 
dealt so with any people." What returns have 
we made to him? Where are the memorials of 
our gratitude? What improvement have we 
made of our privileges? As a nation^ we ac- 
knowledge his hand in nothing; we are afraid, 
as a people^ even to mention his name. We 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 289 

have, to be sure, a day of memorial: but 
whom do we honour by its observance? We 
sing hosannahs to Mars, by the thunder of our 
cannon; and pour out Ubations to Bacchus, in 
wine or whiskey; but, where are our acknow- 
ledgments to the God of our fathers? The 
sins of the Fourth of July, are more than 
enough to account for every divine frown we 
have ever experienced. 

The falsehoods, slanders, bribes, blasphe- 
mies, perjuries, drunkenness, and broils, con- 
nected with almost any general election which 
takes place in our country, are enough to turn 
the Divine Mind against us, and tempt the 
Lord to pour out his wrath upon us. 

We have had an unexampled course of pros- 
perity. The earth has brought forth by hand- 
fuls; and we have gathered up riches like Solo- 
mon. What effect has the Divine goodness 
had upon us? It has made us greedy of gain, 
anxious to grow suddenly rich, dissatisfied with 
the gradually increasing avails of honest in- 
dustry, proud, extravagant, luxurious, unthank- 
ful, and regardless of God, the giver of every 
good and perfect gift. It appears to me, to be 
proved to a demonstration, by the very visita- 
tions of God's hand, that these are some of 
our crying, national sins, for which he is now, 
in a very striking manner, visiting us. Nor is 

25 



290 LECTURE XI. 

it strange that it should be so, if he have any 
mercy left for us; for the love of the world, 
and the love of God, in which the happiness 
of intelligent creatures consists, are totally in- 
consistent with each other. This is a contro- 
versy, which he now appears to be pleading 
with us; and, in which it behooves us to "hear 
the rod,'' and give God glory, ere he cause 
darkness. 

Nor, finally, would it be difficult to find a 
pregnant reason for the Divine frowns which 
have fallen upon us, in the little improvement 
which we have made of our religious privi- 
leges, and in our disregard of those institu- 
tions which God has so graciously bestowed 
upon us. God has said, " Them that honour- 
eth me, I will honour; and they that despise 
me, shall be Hghtly esteemed." This is a prin- 
ciple of the Divine government. What people 
have enjoyed the appliances of religion in 
richer abundance? This is, emphatically, a 
land of Bibles, Sabbaths, and sanctuaries. 
We have none to interfere with our duties to 
God, and the rights of our consciences; and 
are therefore under the greater obligations to 
improve our unparalleled privileges. But what 
are the facts of the case? What multitudes, 
not only disregard, but despise and abuse 
every thing which partakes of a religious cha- 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 291 

racter; and, especially, to what idle and sinful 
purposes is the day of "sacred rest," "the 
holy of the Lord, and honourable,'' the memo- 
rial among us of God's creating power and 
redeeming mercy, perverted? sufficiently so to 
mark it as a national sin. But, you ask, would 
you have men obliged by law to read the Bi- 
ble, sanctify the Sabbath, and wait on the ordi- 
nances of religion? Be assured, my hearers, 
that I have not forgotten the Saviour's declara- 
tion, " My kingdom is not of this world." I 
am not a believer in the absurdity of making 
men religious by law; or, the worse than folly, 
of uniting the Church of Jesus Christ to the 
states of this world. A worse evil could not 
befal religion. But I do believe, that the obli- 
gations of religion, are personal and universal; 
and that, when men are acquainted with them, 
and their connected institutions, and disregard 
and pervert them, that God will hold them 
responsible, and deal with them accordingly. 
Nay, that where it amounts to a national sin, 
that he will visit the nation for it. And while, 
as a minister of Jesus Christ, I ask not the ru- 
lers of the world to establish religion by law, I 
not only ask, but warn them, to enact no laws, 
which would go to legalize breaches of God's 
enactments. Here, I think, we have failed of 
our duty, and are suffering in consequence of 



292 LECTURE XI. 

it. Lightly as men think of the Sabbath, God 
has connected the honour and glory of his 
name, and the welfare of his creatures with it, 
to an extent which eternity only qan measure. 

You may not be aware of the fact — 
nevertheless it is true, that the laws of our 
country oblige many thousands of its inhabi- 
tants to live in the habitual breach of the 
law of the Sabbath, and tempt hundreds of 
thousands to do so. I allude to the laws 
which regulate the post-offices, mails, canals, 
and rail-roads of our country, rendered neces- 
sary only by the love of gain, and the desire of 
gratifying curiosity. But a more painful sight, 
connected with this part of our subject, has 
rarely occurred in our country, than was exhi- 
bited five weeks ago this day,^ at our National 
Capitol. On that day, the representatives of 
the people of these United States, with the 
Head of the Government in waiting to receive 
and approve the work of their hands, were as- 
sembled in Congress, to complete the work of 
our annual legislation, which might ha\e been 
finished before in a tenth part of the time 



* Both Houses of Congress were in session during the whole 
day, on Sabbath, the 3d of March, 1839; and who has rebuked 
them for it? The secular press has observed a dead silence; and 
the religious press and the pulpit, if they have spoken at all, have 
done it in a whisper ! I 



DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE. 293 

which had been unprofitably wasted; and the 
people have made this sin their own, by not re- 
buking them for it. Over such a scene, angels 
might weep. Is it a wonder that God frowns 
upon us? 

I have borne my feeble testimony. I have 
finished the contemplated review of " the signs 
of the times." On the next occasion, your at- 
tention will be directed to "the duty of the 
Gospel ministry with respect to the signs of 
the times." And now, to God, only wise, be 
glory everlasting. 



25 



LECTURE XII. 

DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 

MATTHEW XVI. III. 
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, 

EZEKIEL III. XVII. 

Son of man^ I have made thee a watchman unto 
the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at 
my mouthy and give them warning from me. 

Having completed the contemplated review of 
" the signs of the times," I think it both rele- 
vant and important, to connect the whole sub- 
ject with the ministry of the Gospel. During 
his personal ministry on earth, our Saviour 
was followed by large multitudes, who heard 
his instructions. There were, however, twelve, 
who, upon his special call, w^ere more constant- 
ly with him, and constituted, as it were, his 
family. These were denominated his " Apos- 
tles," because he occasionally seiit them out lo 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY, 295 

minister in his name; and, when ascending to 
glory, he commissioned them to "go into all 
the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature," appending this promise, "Lo! I am 
with you always, even to the end of the 
world." 

This commission required them to make 
known the whole will of God to those to 
whom they should go, in his name, rightly 
dividing to every man the Word of truth, ac- 
cording to his need, of which, they could judge 
only as God should teach them, or as their 
state and character should be developed by 
Divine Providence. The great body of that 
instruction, which it is proper and necessary 
for a minister of the Gospel to give to his 
hearers, must be drawn from the sacred Scrip- 
tures. They are the grand depository of God's 
revealed will. This store-house is well replen- 
ished. The stock is large, and rich. The 
Scriptures, however, do not consist of mere 
doctrines and precepts. They contain, also, 
the principles of God's moral government, and 
the history of its administration, so far as the 
Church is concerned — and the Church is con- 
cerned in it to a greater extent than we are in 
the habit of imagining. If you will read with 
attention the seventh and eighth chapters of 
the book of Daniel, you will find a succinct 



296 LECTURE XII. 

prophetical history of the four great kingdoms, 
which have followed each other in succession, 
the Babylonish, the Grecian, the Roman, and 
the politico-religious one which arose out of 
the last upon the subversion of the Western 
Roman Empire by the Goths and Vandals. 
Upon turning your attention to the subject, you 
will perceive what a mighty influence these 
have exerted on the Church of God, and the 
interests of immortal souls. This connexion 
is still running on; and we are waiting for 
those farther developments of Divine Provi- 
dence, which shall bring the great Papal anti- 
christian apostacy to an end, release the 
Church of God from her bondage, and bring 
her out into the liberty and glory of her mil- 
lenial state. And, because we suppose that 
the dispensations of Providence, with respect 
to the nations of the earth, our own country 
as well as others, have a direct and important 
bearing on the Church, and the salvation of 
souls, we are induced to believe that ministers 
of the Gospel have important duties to dis- 
charge, in connexion with ^'the signs of the 
times." 

I am as far from desiring to make them 
worldly politicians, as I am from wishing to 
see them engaged in any of the schemes of 
ambition or money-making, which are leading 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 297 

such multitudes to forget God and the salva- 
tion of their souls. God forbid, that they 
should descend from their watch-towers for 
such purposes. I wish to see them fixed on 
their appropriate posts, awake to their duty, 
alive to every movement which is taking place, 
studying the actions of men, and the provi- 
dence of God, by the light of his Holy Word; 
with a divine telescope in one hand, and the 
gospel trumpet in the other, ready to sound an 
alarm in God's holy mountain, and give the 
people warning from Him. 

Is there one of " the signs of the times," to 
which your attention has been directed, which 
has no connexion with the moral character and 
conduct of men, the state and prospects of the 
Church of God, the salvation of souls, the wel- 
fare of society, and the glory of Jehovah ? With 
respect to some of them, the connexion is direct 
and palpable. It is so with respect to the subject 
of missions. Nothing can be more obvious, than 
that it is the duty of the ministry of reconcilia- 
tion to give to the Gospel the widest scope, 
and the greatest efficiency within the sphere of 
their immediate labours. Their w^ork is not 
done, and therefore, their hand is not to be 
stayed, while a sinner remains unconverted, or 
a saint inconsistent, inactive, or not growing in 
grace and knowledge. In other words, till all 



298 LECTURE XII, 

are doing their duty, and ripening for heaven. 
The whole body of the Church, however, and, 
very prominently, the ministers of the Gospel, 
are firmly and sacredly bound to see, to the 
fullest extent of their ability, that the Saviour's 
command, "preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture," be carried into effect. The command 
was manifestly addressed to the Apostles, as 
the representatives of the whole Church, the 
radiating point from which hght was to go 
forth to the ends of the earth. Their Master 
had already said to them, " Ye are the hght of 
the world." Providence has taught us, that it 
was not the divine design that this command 
should receive its full accomphshment by the 
ministry of the Apostles, or in their day; but, 
that the duty should remain incumbent to the 
end of time, and hence, is incumbent now; for, 
such is the import of the appended promise, 
"Lo! I am with you always, even to the end 
of the world." 

There rests, therefore, a weighty duty, and 
high responsibihty on the leaders of the Lord's 
host, for there remains much land to be possess- 
ed. I say, " on the leaders," for it is from them 
that the body of the Church must receive their 
intelligence, and learn their duty. It is but 
little of the state and prospects of our sin- 
ruined world that the great mass of our con- 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 299 

gregations either know, or can know, as to its 
wants and woes, excepting what they learn 
from the hps of their pastors. Nor can they 
be brought to act till they are informed, nor 
will they continue to act, unless the Macedo- 
nian cry, "come over, and help us," is con- 
stantly sounded in their ears. The feelings 
and actions of Christians with respect to mis- 
sions, will take " their form and pressure" from 
the ministry under which they live. I know 
not, therefore, why the ministry is not to be 
held personally responsible for the want of in- 
terest or exertion on the part of their congre- 
gations, so far as these have been induced by 
their neglect to communicate to them the ne- 
cessary intelligence, or to excite them to action 
by the necessary inducements. 

The great lesson here taught is, that the 
ministry are solemnly bound to make the sub- 
ject of missions one leading branch of their 
study, and to bring the knowledge they acquire 
on it, and the interest they personally feel in it, 
practically to bear on the people committed 
to their charge. I allude not merely to the 
monthly concert of prayer, however important 
that institution may be — that however should 
command their diligent attention, and their 
study should be to make it interesting and edi- 
fying, for the cause of missions — but, in as 



300 LECTURE XII. 

much as comparatively few are in the habit of 
meeting together on that occasion, it becomes 
the more necessary to give the subject more 
frequency and prominence in the stated minis- 
trations of the sanctuary. This would oblige 
the pastor to study with more attention the 
state of the world as " without God and with- 
out hope," and the duty and agency of the 
Church with respect to its conversion to God. 
And the result would be, increased interest and 
exertion on the part of both, for its consumma- 
tion. This would produce a happy reaction at 
home, for it is an undeniable truth, that "the 
liberal soul shall be made fat : and he that wa- 
tereth, shall be watered also himself." Is it 
not to be feared that this subject, so interesting 
in itself, and so important to the kingdom of 
Christ in the world, is far from receiving merit- 
ed attention from the ministry of reconcilia- . 
tion ? And if so, is it not high time to wake 
up to it ? 

Nor is the cause of education foreign to a 
minister's duty. I speak not of it now with 
a reference to the training of a faithful and 
able ministry, but of education in general. It 
has appeared from a former discourse, that the 
subject is acquiring an interest and attention 
which have never before been bestowed upon it, 
not only in our own country, but in many 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 301 

Others. It has been spoken of as highly proba- 
ble, that these will increase, until education shall 
become general in all lands. It will diffuse 
itself wherever the Gospel shall go, and many 
who will refuse the Gospel, will see the necessity 
of it for themselves. It is also manifest that 
mental culture will exercise a prodigious influ- 
ence on the condition and character of our race, 
in all the relations which they sustain to each 
other, and to God — and consequently that great 
and vital changes will be wrought by it upon 
every part of the world, partaking in their na- 
ture of the kind of cultivation which the human 
mind shall receive. And that from the state of 
the human heart, as depraved and alienated 
from God, these will uniformly be adverse to 
the glory of God and the best interests of man, 
unless there be a large and early infusion 
of that knowledge which is able to make us 
wise unto salvation, through faith which is in 
Christ Jesus. Without this, the more highly 
the mere mind of man is educated, the more 
wise will he be to do evil. 

These considerations attach a fearful interest 
to the subject of education, and should induce 
Christians, and especially Christian ministers, to 
study it, with a closeness and interested atten- 
tion which they have hitherto never bestowed 
upon it. The following facts are worthy of 

26 



302 LECTURE XII. 

serious consideration. The Scriptures are very 
sparingly used in any of our public schools — 
from many of them they are totally banished. 
Multitudes of parents do not make up the defi- 
ciency, either by personal attention to the reli- 
gious education of their children, or by sending 
them to the Sabbath School, or by bringing 
them under the Biblical and Catechetical in- 
struction provided for them by the Church. 
With many parents, in selecting seminaries for 
the education of their children, the inquiry is 
never made, what are its religious advantages, 
or what influence will it be likely to exercise on 
the salvation of my child, confining their atten- 
tion to intellectual culture, or the acquisition of 
mere accomplishments. If these assumptions 
are well founded, it follows, that multitudes 
grow up destitute of all that moral and reli- 
gious training which is vital to usefulness, and 
comfort on earth, and preparation for heaven. 
What is the consequence of all this? That 
multitudes grow up in almost total ignorance 
of those things which belong to their peace, 
and many of them with deadly hostility to the 
claims of the Bible as a divine revelation, be- 
cause those who have had the direction of 
their education have not seen fit to have them 
made acquainted either with the contents or 
the claims of the Bible. And if the more than 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 303 

half infidel objection has been made, they are 
too young to understand the meaning of the 
Scriptures^ even a child might reply, you did not 
proceed thus with respect to other things. 
You obliged me to study them^ that I might 
learn to understand them, and you encouraged 
me by the promise of ultimate success. 

There is much here that is wrong, and needs 
rectification, and it must be rectified, or we 
shall reap a fearful harvest. And much can be 
done to abate, if not remove the evil, by the in- 
fluence and efforts of a faithful ministry. Let 
them sound an alarm on the subject. Let the 
truth with respect to it be proclaimed in all the 
pulpits of our land. Let Christians of every 
name, at least, be made to learn their duty, and 
exert their influence on the subject, and a pub- 
lic sentiment would be created which it would 
not be easy to resist. The professed friends of 
the Bible are not in the minority in this land^ 
and infidels ask too much of us in a republican 
country, where the majority must needs govern, 
when they ask us to banish the Bible from our 
public schools — and Christians are too com- 
plaisant in yielding a point of such high impor- 
tance upon such insufficient inducements. The 
more education shall be diffused, the more im- 
portant will this subject become. I warn my 
brethren of every denomination of the duty 



304 LECTURE XII. 

they owe to God and the world in relation to 
it, and beseech them, if they can agree in no- 
thing else that they agree to give the Bible the 
place it should occupy in the school. 

My brethren will not contend that it is a 
matter which does not concern them, that the 
whole world, as it were, hath run mad after 
mammon, while the evidence is as clear as the 
light of the day, that the infection is not only 
general among those who do not profess the 
self-denying religion of Christ, but has deeply 
affected his professed followers; yea, even the 
ministers of his grace, while the frowns of his 
providence have caused the hearts of men to 
quake within them. If this is no business of 
theirs, why do we read as follows in the holy 
oracles: "But they that will be rich fall into 
temptation, and a snare, and into many foohsh 
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruc- 
tion and perdition. For the love of money is 
the root of all evil ; which, while some coveted 
after, they have erred from the faith, and 
pierced themselves through with many sor- 
rows." " Covetousness, which is idolatry." 
" Covetousness, let it not be named among 
you, as it becometh saints." " He that maketh 
haste to be rich, shall not be innocent." " A 
rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom 
of heaven." If ever there was a subject which 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 305 

called upon them to open their eyes and see, 
and to lift up their voices like trumpets, this is 
the subject, and this is the time. For let them 
be assured that while this spirit is thus raging, 
nothing good or holy, nothing accompanying 
salvation can be induced. And this is the 
more incumbent at present, because God is 
smiting this idol with the right hand of his 
righteousness. Peradventure they will now 
hear the voice of his mercy, expostulating with 
them in the Gospel. And if some of them 
should be obliged to preach to themselves on 
the subject, let them not on that account hold 
their peace, for unless this stumbling-block be 
removed out of the way, the Gospel will be 
powerless. Two master passions cannot reign 
in the human heart at the same time; "ye can- 
not serve God and mammon," saith Christ. 
Let Zion's watchmen wake up to this impor* 
tant subject. 

Nor should they be blind to the cheap rate 
at which human life is held in our country. I 
need not recapitulate what has been said on 
this painful subject on a former occasion. You 
know that hundreds of human lives are des- 
troyed every year, and how rarely the law is 
brought to bear on those who are guilty of it. 
How shall public sentiment be rectified? Who 
shall speak for God, and for the souls of men, 

26* 



306 LECTURE XII. 

which are wantonly sacrificed in hecatombs on 
the altar of this bloody Moloch ? It is a dark 
sign. Who will observe it ? Who will give 
the people warning from God, before he shall 
come out of his place to punish us for this sin? 
God sets too high a value on human life to suf- 
fer it to be thus sported with. Let not the 
ministry of reconciliation say, " this is no con- 
cern of ours." Why then has the Lord put 
into their hands, as his messengers, that volume 
in which he says, " thou shalt not kill ?'' "Who- 
so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood 
be shed?" And why does he hold to you this 
language, " give them warning from me ?" " If 
thou give them not warning from me, and they 
turn not from their iniquity ; they shall perish 
in their iniquity ; but their blood will I require 
at thy hand." The press is silent — and so is 
the law. And if the pulpit also be silent, who 
shall sound the alarm? The ministry has a 
great duty to perform, however unpleasant it 
may be to them^ and unwelcome to those who 
are implicated. They will sin, if they keep 
silence. 

Mention has also been made in these dis- 
courses, of the corruption of doctrine in the j[ 
Christian Church, and of the unhappy eflfects 
which have resulted from it, particularly in our 
own portion of it — the injuries which have re- 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 307 

suited from improperly conducted, or spurious 
revivals of religion — the state of public senti- 
ment and feeling with respect to the great and 
agitating subject of slavery — the manner in 
which the spirit of fanaticism has mingled itself 
up w^th almost all the important concerns of 
hfe — the spirit of lawlessness w^hich has in so 
threatening a manner broken out in different 
parts of the land on a variety of occasions — 
and finally, the frowning aspects of Divine Pro- 
vidence towards our beloved country during 
the last seven years. These furnish so many 
points upon which the intelligent and attentive 
observer of the signs of the times should fix 
his eye, with the desire of ascertaining, as far 
as possible, their probable causes, studying 
them with a reference to their influence on the 
state of our country with respect to its institu- 
tions, its general welfare, its morals, and espe- 
cially on the influence they will be likely to 
exert on the Church of God, and the interest of 
immortal souls — and then to bring to bear upon 
them the counsel of God, as it may be elabo- 
rately gathered from his revealed will. 

That they have already produced great ef- 
fects, no one, who will be at the pains of look- 
ing at them with attention, can fail to discover. 
That they will continue to produce effects 
equally great, is as certain as that God exer- 



308 LECTUREXII. 

cises a moral government over our world. Can 
it be then, that his watchmen, whom he has 
placed on the walls, and commanded to give 
warning from him whenever it shall be necessa- 
ry, shall neither observe what is taking place, 
nor speak when events are transpiring, which 
deeply affect, not only the great temporal inter- 
ests of men and communities, but the greater 
interests of God, as connected with the preser- 
vation, purity, peace, and efficiency of his 
Church, the glory of his great name, and the 
eternal happiness of multitudes? 

And which of these "signs" does not impli- 
cate these high interests? It surely will not 
be pretended that they are not involved in 
the maintainance of purity of doctrine in the 
Church of God, or the preservation of order in 
his house. Nor will it be said, that ministers 
of the Gospel are not bound by the most solemn 
obligations to teach and defend the truth, and 
labour by every lawful means in their power to 
root up and destroy error. If this be not an 
important part of their business, what is? 
They are again and again divinely commanded 
to do so, that they may both save themselves 
and them that hear them. Nor is this a mat- 
ter of small moment — for error eats as doth a 
canker. Few things are more injurious to the 
Church and the world, than the promulgation 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 309 

of errors in religion, especially on vital sub- 
jects. This induced Paul to withstand Peter to 
his face at Galatia. 

Nor need it be proved, on the one hand, that 
revivals of religion, pure and undefiled, are of 
the last importance, with respect to the decla- 
rative glory of God, the enlargement and effi- 
ciency of the Church, and the salvation of our 
sin-ruined world; or, on the other hand, that 
ministers of the Gospel have a very high con- 
cern in them. These things are as evident as 
the light of the sun at noon-day. Let it, how- 
ever be borne in mind, that the character and 
results of revivals are materially affected by 
the means employed in conducting them. It 
is true, that no genuine revival of religion can 
exist, or be carried on, without the quickening, 
illuminating, and sanctifying influences of the 
Holy Spirit. What Paul said to the Corinthi- 
ans, is true of this subject : " I have planted, 
Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.'' 
Neither those w^ho are asleep, nor those who 
are " dead in trespasses and sins," obey any 
other voice. Still, they are very much modi- 
fied by the means employed in conducting 
them, and the circumstances attending them. 
Their character will, for instance, be very dif- 
ferent, if they are conducted under a full exhi- 
bition of Gospel truth, connected with deep 



310 LECTURE XII. 

conviction of sin, and humble dependence on 
the Spirit and grace of God; than if they 
should be induced under instruction in which 
the distinguishing features of the Gospel should 
be kept out of view, especially if they should 
be connected with any considerable degree of 
human machinery, and excitement of the im- 
agination or the feelings. This distinction, 
and it is an impoi-tant one, brings the subject 
fairly within the line of ministerial duty, and 
makes it incumbent on all the ministers of the 
Gospel to study the nature of revivals of reli- 
gion, to watch their progress with sedulous care, 
and to give a right direction to all those influ- 
ences and exercises which are connected with 
them. For let them be assured, that much 
will, under God, depend upon them. They 
have a deep interest in the whole subject. 
They should be the fast friends, and active 
promoters of revivals. But let them see to it, 
that they present no strange fire before the 
Lord, nor sow tares in his field. Let not the 
lesson, so painfully taught during late years, be 
lost upon them. Much remains to be accom- 
plished before the world shall be brought into 
subjection to the cross of Christ; and it is to 
be eflfected by means of revivals, more pure, 
extensive, and glorious than have ever yet been 
experienced. This is known to the powers of 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 311 

darkness; and if they can palsy this arm of 
strength, they will do it. If in any thing the 
ministry should " be wise as serpents, and 
harmless as doves," this is the very thing. 
They must be firm, wise, zealous. 

You will remember, that the existence of 
slavery in our country, and the state of pub- 
lic sentiment with respect to it, has been con- 
sidered as one of the " signs of the times," 
bearing, with no small weight, on the public 
interest, and the prospects of rehgion among 
us. This exciting subject can scarcely fail to 
attract the attention of the ministry of recon- 
ciliation, and lead to serious thoughts as to 
their own duty with respect to it. They will 
do well to remember the various relations in 
which it stands. They must look at it, as con- 
nected with the Constitution and laws of our 
land — as it bears on the rights and duties of 
all concerned: and especially, as it involves 
the state and prospects of immortal souls. 
They must look at it in its various bearings. 
They must ponder deeply their own situation 
as men, as American citizens, as Christians, 
and as ministers of the Gospel. I dare not 
say, that they have nothing to do with the sub- 
ject, in either of these relations; but I do say, 
that they will find, in every view which they 
can take of it, much to perplex and embarrass 



312 LECTURE XII. 

them. They will find it diflScult to determine 
the line of duty, if it involve action. They 
cannot, however, be mistaken in governing 
their own spirits, and keeping themselves aloof 
from any course of action which may jeopard 
the peace of the country, the safety of our in- 
stitutions, the welfare of the African race, and 
the unity and edification of the Church. Espe- 
cially should it be their duty and prayer, to 
know how they may bring the Gospel to bear 
upon them, so that they may endure their lot, 
in the enjoyment of the comforts of rehgion, 
and the hope of heaven, until God, in his in- 
scrutable wisdom, shall throw light on this 
dark subject, and make the line of duty plain 
before our face. That day will come. In the 
mean time, great care is necessary, lest we cast 
abroad "firebrands, arrows, and death.'' In 
relation to this subject the saying is true, " Be- 
hold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." 
Even a slight movement of one imprudent min- 
ister, may prove to be as the breaking forth of 
an overwhelming flood. 

"The spirit of fanaticism," is another of 
those subjects, at which a minister of the Gos- 
pel should look with close attention. We 
have, on a former occasion, adverted to its 
prevalence and evil eflfects in our own age and 
country. It has been shown, to have eflfected 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 313 

almost every department of business; the cause 
of temperance; the civil and political institu- 
tions of our country; the subjects of slavery, 
and peace; the benevolent institutions of the 
day; and finally, the doctrines, order, and ac- 
tion of the Church of God, particularly with 
respect to revivals of religion , and this, if no- 
thing else, brings it fairly and legitimately 
v^ithin the range of ministerial care, watchful- 
ness, and animadversion. The country and 
the Church have both felt its deleterious influ- 
ence. It has made a part of our own allot- 
ment in the Lord's vineyard, like a forest 
through which a raging fire has passed; and, 
if its progress has been arrested, it is still far 
from being extinguished. It is so much " the 
spirit of the age," that it may be expected to 
break out again, as often as any one of a hun- 
dred breezes may blow upon it. The mischiefs 
it has wrought, is a sufficient reason to keep it 
under watchful supervision. Every part of the 
Church has in it some of these combustible 
spirits, who are ready, at every moment, to 
burst out. Ordinary duties and seasons will 
not move them to action. They move not but 
in the tempest. They act not but by explo- 
sion. The importance of the subject will war- 
rant the admonition. Watch against it. Re- 
press it in your own bosom — in all over whom 

27 



314 LECTURE XII. 

you can exercise an influence, especially in the 
Church. It is a spirit of ignorance; and one 
of the best safeguards against it, is to fill the 
mind with sound knowledge and understanding, 
in the fear of the Lord. It thinks not, it re- 
flects not; it is empty, and therefore is carried 
about by every wind which strikes it. Guard 
against it, in every thing, and you will be sure 
to preserve the Church from its destructive in- 
fluence. 

It will be remembered, that, on a former oc- 
casion, the age in which we live was spoken of 
as having, for one of its " signs" and distin- 
guishing characteristics, " a spirit of lawless- 
ness,'' w^hich is restless, uneasy, and discon- 
tented; which refuses to be in subjection to 
any rule or authority, claiming to make its 
own w^ll its almost only rule of action, while 
the will itself is governed by the passions of 
an unsanctified heart. This spirit was shown 
to have manifested itself in the bearing and 
use of deadly weapons by private individuals, 
in the ordinary affairs of life, either, as is al- 
leged, for self-defence, or, for the assertion of 
their personal rights, or the redress of their 
personal wrongs, as though there were no 
shield of law to cover every head, and protect 
every right — in the practice of duelling — and 
in the prevalence of mobs. Now, I contend, 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 315 

that this state of things is fairly subject to the 
animadversions of the pulpit, as well because it 
involves the interests of religion, the glory of 
God, and the welfare of society, as because it 
is a violation of the precepts of God's law, and 
the positive injunction which says: "Let every 
soul be subject unto the higher powers. For 
there is no power but of God; the powers that 
be, are ordained of God. Whosoever, there- 
fore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordi- 
nance of God; and they that resist, shall re- 
ceive to themselves damnation.'^ " Put them 
in mind," (says Paul to Titus,) " to be subject 
to principalities and powers, to obey magis- 
trates." Says Peter, "Submit yourselves to 
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; 
whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto 
governors, as unto them that are sent by him, 
for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the 
praise of them that do well. For so is the 
will of God." The duty of ministers, in this 
respect, cannot be questioned. They owe it 
as a sacred duty to God, as well as to the 
community in which they dwell, not only to 
obey the law for conscience sake, but to up- 
hold the law^, and maintain the peace and order 
of society, to teach men their duty in this re- 
spect, and to rebuke the spirit of lawlessness 
with all the authority with which God has 



316 LECTURE XII. 

clothed them. And I apprehend, that they 
have need of being stirred up to the discharge 
of this duty. I fear, the ministry has often 
been well nigh silent, when it should have 
spoken out in the name of the Lord. If the 
twelve or fifteen thousand pulpits of our land 
should have sounded the alarm, much of the 
disorder and confusion which has disgraced 
our country, and injured the cause of free in- 
stitutions throughout the world, might have 
been prevented. 

In my last discourse on " the signs of the 
times," occasion was taken to speak, some- 
what at large, of the dealings of God towards 
our country, during the last seven years — par- 
ticularly with reference to adverse providences, 
which might have been designed, if not to pun- 
ish, yet to rebuke and chasten us, for our na- 
tional sins. Mention was made of that awful 
scourge, the cholera, in 1832 — the number of 
lives lost by shipwrecks on the ocean, and the 
multitude of disasters which have occurred on 
the waters of our country, in conducting navi- 
gation by steam power — the pecuniary losses 
which have been suffered from the derange- 
ments of business, shipwrecks, steam-boat dis- 
asters, and the extensive conflagrations which 
have occurred in several of our cities — the fail- 
ure of crops — Indian wars — and the danger 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 317 

which has existed of becoming embroiled with 
other nations. These things were considered 
as indications of the Divine displeasure against 
us for our national sins, in failure of suitable 
gratitude for the Lord's goodness to us as a na- 
tion, for the small improvement which we have 
made of our privileges, and our inordinate de- 
sire and eager pursuit of wealth, connected with 
the almost necessary consequences, worldly 
mindedness, luxury, and forgetfulness of God. 
These are all signs, hung out by God, to be ob- 
served, studied, and improved by men — divine 
instruction taught to be learned — a father's rod 
chastising his children — " elder Scripture, writ 
by God's own hand," teaching lessons of practi- 
cal wisdom. And if in such things he says to 
all, " can ye not discern the signs of the times," 
what does he say to the watchmen whom he 
hath set on the walls of Zion for the very pur- 
pose of observing them. 

The very object of their appointment is, to 
study his word, and observe his movements to- 
wards the children of men, and when they un- 
derstand them, to give their fellow creatures 
warning from God, with all faithfulness, assidui- 
ty, and affection, so that they may learn their 
danger, and betake themselves to their hiding 
place for safety. This is one of the peculiar 
duties of the sacred ministry, which they can- 



318 LE CTUR E XII. 

not neglect without sin. In the smaller sphere 
they act upon the principle. If some disas- 
trous providence occur in the congregation to 
which they minister, or the village or city 
where they dwell, they speak out — they lift up 
the voice like a trumpet. Now, why is it that 
they have no concern with those providences 
which manifestly relate to the state and welfare 
of a nation ? The difference, if there be any, 
is this ; — -the greater the number to be affected 
by the dispensation, the deeper should be their 
solicitude, and the more earnest their warning. 
My apprehension is, that the ministry has to a 
considerable extent mistaken its duty in rela- 
tion to this subject. Their observations are 
not sufficiently extensive, or they suppose those 
to whom they minister to have no concern in 
the broader lines of providence, or they feel 
afraid of becoming implicated in matters which 
do not belong to their office. But what is there 
in the word of God, or in the dealings of his 
hand, from which they may not derive instruc- 
tion which may be useful in the prosecution of 
their ministry ? It is admitted, that care, pru- 
dence, and often, nice discernment, are neces- 
sary to conduct this part of their ministry to 
edification. But surely it can furnish no ex- 
cuse for neglecting it ! 

It appears, then, from the views to which 



DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 319 

your attention has this evening been directed, 
that the ministry of reconcihation has an im- 
portant concern in observing, studying with 
assiduity, care, and prayerfulness, and applying 
with affectionate sohcitiide and faithfulness, 
'' the signs of the times,'' for the temporal bene- 
fit and the spiritual edification of those who 
hear them. It was under a distinct impression 
of the truth and importance of this conclusion, 
that the course of instruction on " the signs of 
the times," which has for so long a time en- 
gaged your attention, was commenced, has 
been prosecuted, and is this evening brought to 
a close. It has been attended on my part w4th 
some considerable labour, some portion of sat- 
isfaction, not unmingled with anxiety, and not 
without affectionate solicitude and prayerful 
desire, that it might, through the Divine bless- 
ing, be made, in some humble measure, useful 
to the souls of those who have heard it, to the 
interests of our beloved country, and to the 
cause of Christ. And, if the Lord shall grant 
the request, may it be to the honour of his great 
name, and glorious grace. Amen. 



THE END. 






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